Social welfare leaks show flaws in Irish government databases

By EDRi · October 24, 2007

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar)

Two recent stories have confirmed that security measures in Irish government
databases are inadequate.

In the first case an official in the Department of Family and Social Affairs
was found by police to have leaked personal and financial information to his
brother, a serious criminal, which was then used to target victims for
burglary and blackmail. The second case involved another official in the
same department who examined files on Irish celebrities and systematically
leaked that information to the media.

Both cases appear to reveal a culture in that Department where it is “common
practice” among department employees to be “checking people casually”. They
follow another recent scandal where officials in the same department were
found to be selling information to the insurance industry.

Civil servant mole leaked intelligence to criminal (16.10.2007)
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/civil-servant-mole-leaked-intelligence-to-criminal-1166835.html

Official gave private details to media in new leak shock (16.10.2007)
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/official-gave-private-details-to-media-in-new-leak-shock-1197811.html

Welfare Records Leaked to Insurers (16.07.2007)
http://www.digitalrights.ie/2007/07/16/welfare-records-leaked-to-insurers/

EDRI-gram: Irish insurance industry gets personal data from Police
(18.07.2007)
http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number5.14/irish-data-leaking

(Contribution by TJ McIntyre, EDRI-member Digital Rights Ireland)