Just a quick post because I really should be getting on with human rights revision just now, but I saw this headline on the top of a UK Home Office press release from a couple of years ago:

Talking CCTV brings voice of authority to the street

Did no one in the office feel like spinning this one a bit to play down the authoritarian side a bit?

OK, this one puzzles me: someone (apparently wearing a wig and make-up) managed to commit armed robbery at a branch of ING Bank inside the European Parliament, and they haven’t been caught!

 A spokesman for the Parliament said that the perpetrator might still be at large inside the building.

European Voice

I have a security pass for The Scottish Parliament, so I’m familiar with the procedures for access to that building, including the need to escort guests at all times, but on the occasions I’ve visited the EP, the fact that I can wander around freely on my own has always seemed somewhat unusual. I guess they’ll maybe consider tightening things up a bit now.

Update – 13h33

According to Twitter the best place to go in event of security breaches is the canteen! Twitter really comes into its own with things like this.

Why are the words “the data breach is the latest in a series of embarrassing blunders regarding government information” now common-place on BBC News? Some user-names and passwords on a USB flash drive have been left in a pub car-park. The thing which I don’t fully understand is why such data is placed on portable drives in the first place. It is perfectly possible to store the data on secure servers and transfer it using an encrypted network connection. Even when the network that a computer is attached to is not secure (for example public Wi-Fi in a café), VPN tunnels can link into a secure network, and provide the protection that is needed.

Any computers which are taken out of safe offices should have their hard-drives encrypted, and smart-phones should have a kill-switch on them so they can be rendered useless (and data can be wiped) as soon as they are reported missing.

I imagine those higher-up in the hierarchy are all too aware of the problems, and trying to do something about them, but so long as there are plenty of people who need to handle sensitive data, but have no clue about security, I have a feeling that these things will continue to pop up in the news over and over again.