Lords to hit Government with new net security report

 

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By Barry Collins

Posted on 2 Jul 2008 at 15:56

The Government is facing further embarrassment from the Lords Science and Technology Committee, which is due to publish a new report into internet security next week.

The Committee's first report into Personal Internet Security - which claimed the internet was becoming a virtual Wild West - was whitewashed by the Government, which dismissed the vast majority of the recommendations.

The Lords accused the Government of "putting its head in the sand" and, in a new evidence session last month, Government minister Vernon Coaker issued a grovelling apology to the Lords, saying he was sorry "if they felt our response was over-defensive."

That seemingly won't be enough to save the Government from further scrutiny. The Lords will issue a follow-up report next Tuesday that "will look in detail at whether the Government is taking the right steps to protect the public online".

The Lords will also urge the Government "to take more action to improve personal internet security".

It could perhaps start by getting its own house in order. The public sector has admitted to dozens of data breaches since last year's HMRC disc fiasco, including the loss of 21,000 medical records from an NHS Trust earlier this week.