Slashdot Mirror
Data Breach Exposes RAF Staff To Blackmail
Yehuda writes "Wired reports, 'Yet another breach of sensitive, unencrypted data is making news in the United Kingdom. This time the breach puts Royal Air Force staff at serious risk of being targeted for blackmail by foreign intelligence services or others.
The breach involves audio recordings with high-ranking air force officers who were being interviewed in-depth for a security clearance. In the interviews, the officers disclosed information about extra-marital affairs, drug abuse, visits to prostitutes, medical conditions, criminal convictions and debt histories — information the military needed to determine their security risk.
The recordings were stored on three unencrypted hard drives that disappeared last year.'"
All the money that their government has goes to buying moats and other fun things for the MPs.
"I have never let my schooling interfere with my education." --Mark Twain
why didn't they just encrypt the disks? If it's supposed to be sensitive information, store it securely!
Note: I was 13 when I wrote most of this. Take with several grains of salt.
These are the same idiots who are putting surveillance cameras everywhere, fingerprinting and taking DNA samples from musicians who are simply visiting the UK to play in a few clubs (then denying them entrance because the clubs hadn't paid a fee and agreed to report on them), and generally acting like fascists.
They're great at grabbing reams of private information they would have no right to if Britain were still a free society. Protecting it from unauthorized access? Not so much.
Goddamn wankers!
I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
the officers disclosed information about extra-marital affairs, drug abuse, visits to prostitutes, medical conditions, criminal convictions and debt histories -- information the military needed to determine their security risk
If yes to any of the above do you want these as officers? Even the extra-marital affairs in most circumstances provide proof that the person is capable of disloyalty.
The real problem is if they have done any of this and don't admit to it, they're disloyal, liars that shouldn't be given clearance. If they do admit it, they're too stupid to be in a position of authority. The only way time you want to ask these questions is if you know the answer in advance and the answer is "squeaky clean".
These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
Someone wanna explain to me how drug-using hooker-banging ex-cons are OFFICERS IN THE ROYAL AIR FORCE?
Good to see the Brits have as bad a security as we do.
Because with information of sufficient importance the very fact we don't have an exhaustive audit trail would be worrying (someone may of gotten access). The fact that we don't even know where it is? That, is scary. Not only is the risk that this data still exists, meaning that either careers will be ruined or national security will be endangered. But additionally it is a further reminder of how incompetent government can be with obviously important data.
Although you may find the strength of feeling some people have regarding this breech to be unfounded, I expect I am not alone in finding your opinion that nothing bad will happen because "it rarely does" incredibly naive.
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Keep it in your head. There is no such thing as absolute security, therefore there is no such thing as security. If you don't want to share something, don't share it with anybody.
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blog me no blogs
So losing sensitive data "last year" is only being reported now as a problem!?
I hope that between losing the material and reporting it (several months later), some action has already been taken to minimise the potential for blackmail. ...or were they waiting a certain length of time to see if it turned up somewhere or was posted back to them before panicking.
(I would say that I hope action has already been taken to prevent this from happening again, but I'm not that naive)
Because it's cheaper to blackmail loyality than to buy it? Duh...
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
We gained more and more freedoms over time. Looking back, we certainly enjoy more freedoms today than we did a hundred years ago, at least in Europe. Most of mainland Europe was ruled by autocratic kings and emperors who restricted the exchange of ideas and discussions, criticising the government was often close to high treason. We sure came a long road from this.
When you look at it with a finer grained system, you'll notice, though, that liberties are in decline, though, and have been since the 1960s, at least in my perspective. It's been especially rough in the last ten or so years, when people all over the world could easily communicate with each other and exchange ideas much more easily and rapidly than ever before. Such things frighten governments and other powerful people. Because it's also never been easier to "spill the beans" and whistleblow.
Government and industry are quite close to each other these days, and neither wants some of their practices to be smeared all over the planet, for everyone to read. It's never been easier for people to get information into circulation, content is not just music and movies, it's also information and ideas, and they can be spread, multiplied and distributed just as quickly.
And that's what scares not only the content industry, but everyone who could be threatened by the quick distribution of any kind of information.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
It doesn't matter so much whether the information is false or true, what matters is if you have control of the means of communication. Just ask John Kerry about the Swift Boat Veterans. Baseless information can do great damage if you have the power to shout it loudly enough. Meanwhile, BAE systems bribed a Saudi Prince over US$1billion to direct his country to make various arms purchases and when the UK authorities began investigations, our own British government stepped in and order the investigation stopped. Corruption on a massive scale that dropped from the national press like a scab from a leper.
I think this post further down has one of the most insightful takes on why the information might be gathered. Not that I feel it fully excuses the gathering of the information and certainly doesn't excuse its loss. The RAF officers who gave this information to their employers had a simple choice - tell the truth about their more shameful behaviour or lie to cover it up. They chose wrong.
Aide-toi, le Ciel t'aidera - Jeanne D'Arc.