Tag Archives: England

Apple iPhones Most Targeted by Thieves

September 9, 2014 Kris Price

A report that has been compiled by the Home Office indicates that Apple iPhones are the most desirable for thieves.

The report states that the Apple iPhone models such as the iPhone 5, 5C, 5S and 4S topped the table with the Blackberry 9790 making up the top five.

The collated results were based on information received from the Crime Survey for England and Wales and analysis of crime data in London form 1^st August 2012 to 5^th January 2014. According to the Crime Survey for England and Wales, 742,000 phones were reported as stolen between 2012 and 2013 whilst the Metropolitan Police reported that nearly 100,000 phones were stolen in 2013 in London alone.

The report also states that 14-24 year olds are most at risk of having their phone stolen with women also being targeted by thieves.

Home Secretary Theresa May who published the report believes that the number of phones being reported stolen is a concern because of the sensitive data that is now stored on.

May stated, “Crime has fallen by more than 10% under this government. However, the level of mobile phone theft remains a concern and people are increasingly carrying their lives in their pockets, with bank details, emails and other sensitive personal information easily accessible through mobile phones.

May added, “This is why it is vital that government, police and industry work together to tackle this crime.”

Metropolitan Police intelligence has also shown that there has been a reduction in thefts of iPhones after Apple released new security measures in its iOS 7 operating system in September last year.

An Apple spokesman stated, “Apple has led the industry in helping customers protect their lost or stolen devices since the launch of Find My iPhone in 2009 by allowing customers to remotely set a passcode or erase all their personal data.”

The spokesman added, “With iOS 7, Find My iPhone includes a feature called Activation Lock, which is designed to prevent anyone else from using your iPhone… if you ever lose it. This can help you keep your device secure, even if it is in the wrong hands, and can improve your chances of recovering it.”

As mobile phones have become more desirable to thieves, it is important as ever to ensure that confidential data is not stored on the device unless it is needed. It is also important to remain vigilant and to keep the mobile phone in a secure place to reduce the chances of thieves getting their hands on your phone.

If your phone is stolen, it is important that regular backups have been taken to ease the overall impact of replacing your phone.

Ministry of Justice Fined by ICO

August 27, 2014 Damien Garvey

The Ministry of Justice has been fined £180,000 by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) after an investigation concluded that there were serious failings in the handling of confidential data.

Confidential data belonging to almost 3,000 prisoners at Erlestoke prison in Wiltshire was compromised after a hard drive was lost. All the data on the hard drive was not encrypted despite previous efforts to improve the security of confidential data that was being transported on portable devices.

The hard drive was lost in 2013 and contained confidential information about prisoners’ health and drug misuse, information about inmates’ victims and visitors and material on organised crime.

This incident still occurred even though a very similar thing happened back in 2011 when another hard drive was lost which compromised data belonging to 16,000 prisoners. In an attempt to protect the data, the Ministry of Justice provided the Prison Service with hard drives that could be encrypted.

Despite this, a lack of communication and training resulted in the government body failing to explain to employees that the encryption option had to be switched on manually.

Stephen Eckersley who is the ICO head of enforcement stated, “The fact that a government department with security oversight for prisons can supply equipment to 75 prisons throughout England and Wales without properly understanding, let alone telling them, how to use it, beggars belief. “

Eckersley added, “The result was that highly sensitive information about prisoners and vulnerable members of the public, including victims, was insecurely handled for over a year. We hope this penalty sends a clear message that organisations must not only have the right equipment available to keep people’s information secure, but must understand how to use it.”

A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Justice stated, “We take data protection issues very seriously and have made significant and robust improvements to our data security measures. These hard drives have now been replaced with a secure centralised system.”

The spokeswoman added, “Incidents like this are extremely rare and there is no evidence to suggest that any personal data got into the public domain.”

This incident is another example of where an organisation has acted reactively and not proactively which has resulted in confidential data being compromised. This incident also shows the importance of having effective training and communication procedures in place.

Storm Batters Southern Britain

October 29, 2013

A huge storm has battered southern Britain over night and into Monday morning. The storm, named St Jude, is the largest experienced in the country for years and has already caused a huge amount of damage, as well as the tragic loss of four lives.

Winds of up to 99mph have been recorded which has left nearly a quarter of a million homes without any power, as well as rail and road networks in chaos. Flights to and from Southern Airports have also seen disruption.� The Environment Agency has advised people to stay in doors if they don�t have to travel, which has had a knock-on effect on businesses throughout the south of England.

Train companies have had to cancel or reduce their services, with Southwest Trains, East Coast, First Great Western, Virgin West Coast just some of the providers cancelling services on Monday morning. London has also been greatly effected, with disruption to rail and air travel common across the South East in general.

It is events like this that should focus many businesses on how their data is protected and whether they have in place an effective and fully tested Disaster Recovery plan. With people finding it difficult to get to their place of work, an effective DR plan utilising Backup Technology�s Online Backup and Virtual Disaster Recovery services means workers could effectively work remotely from their home without the need to travel in such circumstances. Whilst businesses should be protecting their data with regular backup routines, are these backups managed and fully offsite, should the unthinkable happen and an office or place of work is destroyed?

One of the most important commodities in today’s world is data, whether it be customer details, communication data (such as emails) or critical documents. Taking the time to plan for potential disasters is a key part of maintaining a good service to customers of all businesses!

Backup Technology sponsor 150th anniversary of Yorkshire CCC

June 19, 2013

2013 marks the 150^th anniversary of the founding of Yorkshire Cricket Club. In light of this momentous occasion, local MP Nigel Adams (Selby and Aintsy) approached Simon Chappell � CEO of Backup Technology � to see if he would be interested in sponsoring an event based at the Houses of Parliament. Nigel, being a keen cricketer and Yorkshire man, wanted Parliament to acknowledge this important anniversary.

Simon, being a keen cricketer himself as well as being Regional Chairman for The Lord’s Taverners (the cricketing charity), was happy to oblige. So on June 10^th, BTL sponsored, with members of the BTL team attending, the event to join in the celebrations of this auspicious occasion.

Yorkshire cricketers also attended the event from previous years as well as the full current squad, coached by former Australian bowler Jason Gillespie. Familiar faces from the past included the likes of Yorkshire and England legends Geoffrey Boycott and Darren Gough. Also in attendance were peers from all parties as well as commons speaker John Bercow.

The event proved to be a great success and BTL were proud to be part of the celebrations.

Mr Adams, in the build up to the event said:

�Yorkshire County Cricket Club is deeply rooted in our county�s cultural and sporting psyche and it is important for our Parliamentarians to recognise and celebrate what has been achieved by the club and by inviting past and present players, it is a way for Parliament to say thank you to the world�s greatest cricket club��

Earlier this year Backup Technology announced it was one of three companies to partner with Yorkshire Cricket club in 2013. Simon said earlier this year:

�Backup Technology is very proud to become a partner of the club in its 150^th Anniversary Year and look forward to participating in the exciting range of events organised throughout the year, with the hope that successful celebrations off the pitch can be matched on the pitch as well.��

Yorkshire have had a brilliant start to this year’s campaign, currently sitting top of the LV County Championship Division One, and�Yorkshire players Tim Bresnan, Jonathan Bairstow and Joe Root currently key members of the England setup. Let’s hope the players and staff can maintain this throughout the season in what is a historic year for YCCC.

Simon and BTL would also like to extend a warm thank you to Nigel for arranging and inviting BTL to sponsor the event. It was a great day and one that will live long in the memory!

Booming UK Data Centre Market

November 21, 2011

Data compiled by the Data-Center Dynamics Industry Census 2011 has highlighted the UK as having one of the leading data centre markets in the world.

�We believe the numbers released today well reflect the UKs position as a leading global data centre market, and look forward to refining the model and using it in other markets,� said Andrew Jay, Head of Data Centres EMEA.

Data centres are cropping up all over the world and the survey found that 7.6 million square metres now exist throughout the world.

The Data Center Development Index (DCDI) ranks markets according to their state of development. It does this through taking into account, size of the economy, number of data centres and influence of technology, power consumption and human resource. This index has ranked the UK just behind the west coast of the US, highlighting a strong global market position.

Studies have revealed that British data centres consume 6.4 GW of power every year. This is enough to facilitate 6 million homes.� Furthermore power output is set to increase by 6.7% in the next year. However this is far behind the expected global increase, set to rise by 19%. These figures represent the hugely growing efficiency of data centre operations in the UK.

Investment in data centre operations is also set to increase. The next year will see a growth of �2.15 billion. This will allow construction of more data centres in addition to existing facilities being upgraded.

Growth is set to be most significant in the SE of England, rising by 68%. With Scotland, the NW of England and the Midlands also seeing substantial growth.

�When you look at the size of the operations of just a handful of organisations, you quickly get a sense of the market�s scale,� stated George Rockett, co-founder of Data-Center Dynamics.

Police Data Collaboration

June 24, 2011

Logica have worked alongside The National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA) to develop a new database which allows Police departments across England and Wales to share intelligence relating to crime.

Lord Bichard is the original mastermind behind the new innovation and his efforts to create The Police National Databse (PND) have come as a direct result of the Soham murders which Ian Huntley conducted in 2002.

Huntley had 8 separate allegations against him between 1995 and 1999 in connection with sexual offences. However because these allegations were unproven they were only recorded on a local database in Humberside. This information could have saved the lives of victims Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman in 2002.

The �75.6m project will hold the details of over 15 million individuals and will be available to no less than 43 police forces across England and Wales. The hope is that the new system will help investigators trace criminals and their associates.

Jennie Cronin, Impact programme director at The NPIA commented, �To share intelligence carries some risks, but choosing not to share poses a far greater risk to public protection and it is not one the service should be prepared to live with any longer.�

Information will not include witness data or victim details. The focus will be on domestic violence, criminal intelligence and custody areas. �However one concern which has been expressed is the idea that data on 6 million innocents will be held. Advocates of the new database retort by arguing that it is the nature of police work which makes it essential to hold the records of innocent people.

The other concern expressed by MPs is the sheer scale of the database and the number of people who will have access to it.� In total around 12,000 authorised officers will have access with secure access controls acting to ensure that only role relevant information can be searched.

NPIA chief executive Nick Gargan stated �The PND pulls together all local knowledge and allows investigators to see the full intelligence picture. � As a result they can act far more quickly and effectively when it comes to protecting the public.�

�Until now this information had to be shared manually, a fallible and sometimes bureaucratic process dependent on the right staff being able to access and share the relevant files, which could take up to two weeks.�