Last week we learned that PA Consulting couldn't be trusted with data on 80,000 UK prisoners. And this week we discovered that the Banks are using idiots to hold customer information - including images of signatures. So what is going on and why are organisations everywhere "leaking data"? The overwhelming reason all these issues occur is because ordinary human beings fail to engage brains and just don't think. This is compounded by organisations that take a lax view towards reminding people of the importance of protecting data from unintentional "publication". All too often companies invest heavily in technical protection - spending vast sums on state-of-the-art firewalls, but mothing on staff training and awareness work.

Contractors and Consultants are a major problem
Most IT departments are staffed on the basis of "business-as-usual". So whenever any extra work is needed the only way to get it done is to "outsource" it. This is especially true in Marketing. Yet all too often very little "due dilligence" is done on the company being outsourced to. Any contract may make only the merest passing reference to Data Security or Data Privacy and no real audit is undertaken. We know - most of our clients just take our word for it that we have solid processes! And when we undertake audits we usually find that no audit of third parties has ever been done.

Size doesn't matter
Don't think you can escape by only working with "the big boys" - some of the tales we could tell would make your hair curl and your blood run cold - as PA proves, they are as capable as anyone of being idiots. No, the only solution is to do your homework and audit them properly and at the same time make sure your own house is in order and audit that too! At MI we have been running Data Privacy Audits for over five years for companies large and not so large. Download our Daa Privacy Data Sheet by clicking here