ICO Rules Against The British Council

ICO Rules Against The British Council

The British Council was found guilty of breaching the Data Protection Act when it lost an unencrypted disk holding personal information of over 2,000 workers. The Information Commissioner’s Office has ruled against the Council for compromising classified data last December 2008.
 

A courier service at the agency reported the loss, sparking concerns from data owners. The lost information included trade union membership and bank account details. 

 

The British Council admitted its lack of precaution over the sensitive files and subsequently signed an agreement to take preventive measures such as disk encryption to avoid similar occurrence. 

 

The ICO has requested various groups to sign undertakings ensuing violations against the Data Protection Act. The groups include two NHS trusts, the Home Office, Department of Health, Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Orange Personal Communications Services.