Cost cutting is being blamed for the loss of massive amounts of personal data in this widely-reported UK government data loss case.

The Portable Consultant knows of at least one excellent free open source data encryption tool that could have protected the data.

How very, very sad for all those concerned.

The protection of data where privacy and security issues are involved should never be subject to cost cutting considerations in this manner. The public good demands an informed threat/risk assessment process conducted by professionals who understand the risks and the real costs of such data loss.

A example of the true meaning of the English expression “Penny wise and Pound foolish”.

-pmh

This is not a security blog, but the Microsoft WMF vulnerability is serious enough that everyone should be made aware of it.

Here’s Steve Gibson’s notes on the vulnerability with a link to a good open source temporary fix that will give protection until Microsoft patches the problem.

Security Now! Notes for Episode #20

As always, you should google around until you have enough up-to-date information to make an informed decision on how to react to this threat.

–pmh