BBC seeks Bunker’s opinion over 15m bank details lost
Date 20th November 2007
With 15m data records lost and a high profile resignation Richard Evans from BBC Radio Wales asks The Bunker what they make of the situation.
Paul Lightfoot a founding member of The Bunker’s technical elite participated in a Radio Wales phone-in with Richard Evans earlier today:
“It seems like a basic error – if disks have been lost with confidential data on then the simple solution really would be to store the data in a non-readable format on the disk. Encrypting the data on the disks would mean that if they do get lost then they are not usable by anybody.”
When asked whether 15m records would need a large number of disks? Paul responded “Not by today’s standards – if they are optical disks then it might only amount to a couple of disks, which could easily be lost if left in the front seat of someone’s car or in a laptop bag for example; but this is easy to protect yourself against.”
Richard commented that “Revenue and Customs say that they don’t believe the disks have fallen into the wrong hands,” Paul responded with “They’re hoping the disks haven’t fallen into the wrong hands - at The Bunker we run our facilities from underground bunkers. We secure the data physically but we also build electronically secure systems. When we deal with tapes and disks moving on and off site then we put into place a code of conduct with that particular customer, be it a bank or another financial organisation so that these things shouldn’t happen. There is always the human factor but if the right procedures and checks are in place then that should catch any problems before they happen.”
Richard asks “There is no excuse - security of your data is on the agenda of every private and public organisation is that right?” Paul comments “Well the financial services authority regulate these people and make sure that it is and there are certain minimum standards that need to be adhered to.”
Adam Laurie, renowned security expert and Director at the Bunker adds:
"With all the changes taking place in the world today and the rapid development of new ways to break into IT systems and tamper with valuable proprietary data, there’s an important role for companies like ours to play in providing ultra secure IT services, not just managed ones. Data can be literally worth millions of pounds and the need to protect it is critical to the success of many organisations in different sectors."
About The Bunker
The Bunker Secure Hosting Ltd, provides Ultra Secure Data Centres and Managed Hosting Solutions on a range of technologies from Open Source to Microsoft and including network Management.
Our team comprises of security and cryptography experts renowned for their work on Apache-SSL and Bluesnarfing. Our technical leaders are recognised experts in security and we use Open Source software where appropriate, as we believe it offers great benefits in security, stability and cost effectiveness.
Our Data Centres are outside the M25 yet within easy reach of London. Our facilities are ex-military Nuclear Bunkers purpose built to house the UK's air defence systems. We run 24/7/365 and our NOC monitors systems both nationally and internationally and is staffed around the clock by system and network engineers and security staff. Through our in house networks team and via close working relationships with a number of carefully selected network providers, we deliver a multi-homed, no single point of failure transit network between all our sites and the Internet.
The Bunker works with over 75 clients, large and small. Our clients are Financial Services Organisations, Technology companies, local government and other regulated Businesses that value our Ultra Secure, high availability offering.
With 15m data records lost and a high profile resignation Richard Evans from BBC Radio Wales asks The Bunker what they make of the situation.
Paul Lightfoot a founding member of The Bunker’s technical elite participated in a Radio Wales phone-in with Richard Evans earlier today:
“It seems like a basic error – if disks have been lost with confidential data on then the simple solution really would be to store the data in a non-readable format on the disk. Encrypting the data on the disks would mean that if they do get lost then they are not usable by anybody.”
When asked whether 15m records would need a large number of disks? Paul responded “Not by today’s standards – if they are optical disks then it might only amount to a couple of disks, which could easily be lost if left in the front seat of someone’s car or in a laptop bag for example; but this is easy to protect yourself against.”
Richard commented that “Revenue and Customs say that they don’t believe the disks have fallen into the wrong hands,” Paul responded with “They’re hoping the disks haven’t fallen into the wrong hands - at The Bunker we run our facilities from underground bunkers. We secure the data physically but we also build electronically secure systems. When we deal with tapes and disks moving on and off site then we put into place a code of conduct with that particular customer, be it a bank or another financial organisation so that these things shouldn’t happen. There is always the human factor but if the right procedures and checks are in place then that should catch any problems before they happen.”
Richard asks “There is no excuse - security of your data is on the agenda of every private and public organisation is that right?” Paul comments “Well the financial services authority regulate these people and make sure that it is and there are certain minimum standards that need to be adhered to.”
Adam Laurie, renowned security expert and Director at the Bunker adds:
"With all the changes taking place in the world today and the rapid development of new ways to break into IT systems and tamper with valuable proprietary data, there’s an important role for companies like ours to play in providing ultra secure IT services, not just managed ones. Data can be literally worth millions of pounds and the need to protect it is critical to the success of many organisations in different sectors."
About The Bunker
The Bunker Secure Hosting Ltd, provides Ultra Secure Data Centres and Managed Hosting Solutions on a range of technologies from Open Source to Microsoft and including network Management.
Our team comprises of security and cryptography experts renowned for their work on Apache-SSL and Bluesnarfing. Our technical leaders are recognised experts in security and we use Open Source software where appropriate, as we believe it offers great benefits in security, stability and cost effectiveness.
Our Data Centres are outside the M25 yet within easy reach of London. Our facilities are ex-military Nuclear Bunkers purpose built to house the UK's air defence systems. We run 24/7/365 and our NOC monitors systems both nationally and internationally and is staffed around the clock by system and network engineers and security staff. Through our in house networks team and via close working relationships with a number of carefully selected network providers, we deliver a multi-homed, no single point of failure transit network between all our sites and the Internet.
The Bunker works with over 75 clients, large and small. Our clients are Financial Services Organisations, Technology companies, local government and other regulated Businesses that value our Ultra Secure, high availability offering.
