The UK data protection authority, Information Commissioner's
Office (ICO), has published statistics regarding breach incidents
in the first quarter of this year (1 April - 30 June 2013). In a related press release, the ICO discussed
conclusions drawn from the numbers regarding the most common types
of data breaches and the sectors that appear to be at greatest
risk. It also described the enforcement tactics used to respond to
the incidents.
As many as 175 out of 335 data breach incidents investigated by
the ICO concerned data being 'disclosed in error'. This
includes situations where emails were sent to the wrong people or
where information was erroneously included in
freedom-of-information responses. The ICO highlighted that
carelessness was often at the heart of the problem, with the same
mistakes frequently repeated. ICO treats carelessness seriously and
will take enforcement action were warranted. Loss or theft of
paperwork and hardware were the second- and
