A Simple FOI in a Complex World.

A Freedom of Information Act Request [FOI] revealed that more than 15,833 mobile phones were lost on the London Underground in 2013, as well as 506 tablets and 528 laptops. The information on a single company laptop or mobile phone is enough to give a hacker access to that company’s network.

SDC staff, use council mobile phones, laptops. Staff travel to external meetings, training away days etc. So “stuff” in the course of life gets lost as the FOI clearly demonstrates.

How many staff members have reported losing a laptop, mobile phone or tablet in the last five years?

How many attacks has SDC suffered by hackers?

When?

Was any data lost?

What data was lost?

Has there ever been a data breach or data purge, internally or externally?

It’s not just SDC we need worry about. It is also the companies they have contracts with. SDC’s  Contract Register shows us there were 141 other companies to worry about too, some of them travel with mobile phones, laptops with our information on it. 

How many of them have lost a tablet, mobile phone or laptop which may well compromise your data?

Has any of the companies on SDC’s contract register ever suffered a data breach?

Have any of these companies lost Shepway Citizens data?

Training for SDC staff has to be woven into the fabric of the organisation. The same goes for outsourced companies too.  SDC and outsourced companies cannot expect to get by relying only on annual refreshers courses: they must actively promote good cyber hygiene as rigorously as conventional hygiene is promoted in restaurants.

Security is now the responsibility of every staff member and outsourced worker – not just the poor fellow on the night desk who gets the blame when a thief shimmies in through an upstairs window and steals Alistair Stewart’s golf clubs.

Shepwayvox