A twenty-five page report by security outfit Symantec has concluded that contractors and employees are the main cause for person data breaches in the UK. According to the report, thirty-six firms in the UK covering eleven different industries has experienced data breaches during 2011 which resulted in a notification to the Information Commissioner. Apparently the data breaches were caused over a third of the time by " a negligent employee or contractor " whilst " system glitches " were responsible for another third of the instances. The glitches account for " a combination of both IT and business process failures ," the report said. Malicious or criminal attacks were the cause of the remaining one third of cases. Symantec expressed the view that the amount of information breached on average had fallen and that a larger number of customers were remaining loyal to companies that had lost data. " The average abnormal churn decreased from 3.
Brian Miller, solicitor, provides legal advice on data protection and privacy issues affecting businesses and consumers.