When the Data Protection Act was introduced in 1998, many saw it as just another boring piece of bureaucracy with which businesses had to contend.  If it is boring, then it is a boring minefield.  The losses of personal data by many commercial organisations plus the UK government has reached frightening proportions and the implications of this for some individuals have been devastating.  Many businesses sell on line whereby customers can use credit cards to purchase goods or even services.  In one instance, the credit card details belonging to a customer were stolen after he had made purchases from a website and they were subsequently used to buy indecent images of children. This ultimately lead to the customers arrest and he was only able to clear his name after he had proved that the illegal transactions were made from Indonesia at the same time he was using his card in a restaurant in the UK.  Unfortunately, this was not before the circumstances had cost him his job and him suffering serious repercussions with his family.  That customer now has a High Court action pending against a retailer and if successful, as seems likely from the circumstances, one can only guess at the repercussions on the owners of the website.

Employers cannot control every action of their employees and often personal data will be downloaded to laptops or home computers operated by those employees.  It is incumbent on employers to ensure that sensitive data of any type should be encrypted and have password protection. 

Identity theft is a real problem as reported in newspapers time and time again.  One of the main causes of identity theft is the failure to protect sensitive data and this should be very high on any company’s management requirement.  Whilst a legal expenses policy might provide legal assistance in defending cases, fines, which cannot be covered by insurance, can be significant.  DAS legal expenses policies provide such legal assistance and can be arranged through Bradshaw Bennett.