UK Wedding News
07/03/2014
The breach revealed almost 10,000 people's personal information to a hacker.
Following an investigation by the Independent Commissioner's Office (ICO), it was discovered that the charity did not know its website was storing the names, address, date of birth and telephone number of people who asked for a call back for advice on pregnancy issues. The personal data also was not stored securely, and a vulnerability in the website's coding allowed a hacker to access the system and locate the personal information.
The hacker threatened to publish the names of the individuals whose details he had accessed, but this was prevented after the information was recovered by the police following an injunction obtained by the BPAS.
In addition, the investigation also revealed that the BPAS had also breached the Data Protection Act by keeping the call back details for five years longer than was necessary for its purposes.
David Smith, Deputy Commissioner and Director of Data Protection at the ICO, said: "Data protection is critical and getting it right requires vigilance.
"The British Pregnancy Advice Service didn't realise their website was storing this information, didn't realise how long it was being retained for and didn't realise the website wasn't being kept sufficiently secure.
"But ignorance is no excuse. It is especially unforgivable when the organisation is handing information as sensitive as that held by the BPAS."
Ann Furedi, Chief Executive of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, commented: "We accept that no hacker should have been able to steal our data but we are horrified by the scale of the fine, which does not reflect the fact that bpas was a victim of a serious crime by someone opposed to what we do.
"BPAS is a charity which spends any proceeds on the care of women who need our help and on improving public education and knowledge on contraception, fertility and unplanned pregnancy.
"This fine seems out of proportion when compared with those levelled against other organisations who were not themselves the victims of a crime."
Ms Furedi added that the service would be appealing the ICO's verdict.
(JP)
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British Pregnancy Advice Service Fined £200k
The British Pregnancy Advice Service (BPAS) has been fined £200,000 for a serious data breach.The breach revealed almost 10,000 people's personal information to a hacker.
Following an investigation by the Independent Commissioner's Office (ICO), it was discovered that the charity did not know its website was storing the names, address, date of birth and telephone number of people who asked for a call back for advice on pregnancy issues. The personal data also was not stored securely, and a vulnerability in the website's coding allowed a hacker to access the system and locate the personal information.
The hacker threatened to publish the names of the individuals whose details he had accessed, but this was prevented after the information was recovered by the police following an injunction obtained by the BPAS.
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In addition, the investigation also revealed that the BPAS had also breached the Data Protection Act by keeping the call back details for five years longer than was necessary for its purposes.
David Smith, Deputy Commissioner and Director of Data Protection at the ICO, said: "Data protection is critical and getting it right requires vigilance.
"The British Pregnancy Advice Service didn't realise their website was storing this information, didn't realise how long it was being retained for and didn't realise the website wasn't being kept sufficiently secure.
"But ignorance is no excuse. It is especially unforgivable when the organisation is handing information as sensitive as that held by the BPAS."
Ann Furedi, Chief Executive of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, commented: "We accept that no hacker should have been able to steal our data but we are horrified by the scale of the fine, which does not reflect the fact that bpas was a victim of a serious crime by someone opposed to what we do.
"BPAS is a charity which spends any proceeds on the care of women who need our help and on improving public education and knowledge on contraception, fertility and unplanned pregnancy.
"This fine seems out of proportion when compared with those levelled against other organisations who were not themselves the victims of a crime."
Ms Furedi added that the service would be appealing the ICO's verdict.
(JP)
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