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Today’s ICO fines unlikely to act as a deterrent says Sophos

February 2011 by Sophos

IT security and control firm Sophos has commented on the news that the ICO has fined Ealing and Hounslow councils £80,000 and £70,000 respectively for breaching the Data Protection Act. Ealing Council lost the personal information of almost 1,000 clients and Hounslow Council lost 700 clients’ details when two council-issued laptops were stolen from an employee’s home and the sensitive information was only password protected.

“These are pretty embarrassing mistakes for the two councils involved,” commented Graeme Stewart, Sophos’s Business Development Director for UK Public Sector. “However, £80k and £70k are hardly punitive damages. It seems that, given the maximum possible fine is £500k, the ICO is attempting to be proportionate and give himself wiggle-room for the future. So it’s tough to blame the ICO, but it’s not tough to blame those that gave him these powers.”

“As these sums of money act more like a slap on the wrist, the real question has to be about disciplinary action, internal remedy and procedural changes within these authorities. Rather than just shuffling the sum of these fines back to the Ministry of Justice, wouldn’t it be far more beneficial if this money was spent on finding a proper remedy – user education, remedial action for those whose privacy has been breached, or legal training for people who aren’t lawyers within the authority to explain what the legislation says and means?”

“I applaud the fine for it sentiments – it is not appropriate to treat client information in such a slapdash manner. But nor is it appropriate for the fine to be so pathetically small. Three councils fined in so many months for a sum total less than it costs to put a proportionately secure working environment in place is not a deterrent, it’s a mild rebuke. And if fines are not a deterrent, what’s the point of them in the first place?”


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