The spy who tripped over a daisy

14.08.2006
Here's a rarity. A data breach that occurred as a result of failed technology. It never happens.

Reports detailing Incidents of lost data, stolen information and identity theft cross my desk with unsettling regularity.

The similarities in each report are positively uncanny. Without knowing any detail I can recite the circumstances surrounding the event.Invariably it will involve motor vehicles, laptops, petrol stations and possibly, a subcontractor.

Here's the story. A subcontractor is filling the car with petrol and a laptop containing the financial details of half a million unwitting victims is stolen from the back seat. Petrol stations aren't always central to the tale as laptops can be stolen from the vehicles or homes of employees in charge of the company's most valuable data assets. But the stories are pretty much the same.

If Im sounding a tad suspicious then maybe I am. It wouldn't be the first time I've been accused of harboring sinister thoughts.

But once the breach is exposed it is the statements released to the media that are just as incredible. Did I say incredible? I meant to say predictable.