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Posted in 'Identity Theft' by Richard Catlin

01 July 2009

ParcelForce has become the latest company to inadvertently make sensitive details of UK consumers available to anyone who cares to look.

A major error on the ParcelForce Worldwide website meant that people logging on to track the status of their own parcels were also able to view details of other customers and their deliveries – including names, addresses and in some cases, even signatures.

The courier blamed the data breach on a programming error on the site that affected its ‘track and trace’ service, and was quickly fixed once identified – though that doesn’t prevent the whole episode from looking like a free lunch to an identity fraudster. It has not been disclosed how many customers were affected.

The company has apologised to customers, but still faces an investigation by the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) for failing to keep its customers’ personal data safe.

The ICO has recently found Manchester City Council to be in breach of the Data Protection Act following the theft of two unencrypted laptops containing personal details relating to over 1700 school employees from the Town Hall last October.

In return for receiving only a rap on the knuckles rather than a more serious punishment, the Council has signed a formal agreement promising to make big improvement in the way it encrypts and protects data, as well as providing better training to staff.

These two cases represent a drop in the ocean when it comes to the overall number of times data has been ‘misplaced’ or has been stolen in the UK. There has been a 40% increase in identity theft cases in the first three months of 2009 compared to the same period last year.

Criminals are increasingly turning to identity fraud as a means of exploiting people at a time when genuine credit accounts are hard enough to open. Identity thieves simply target people with good credit ratings and once they have obtained enough information, attempt to re-direct accounts to a new address, or open additional accounts.

You can get a good idea of how vulnerable you are to identity fraud, based on things like your lifestyle, where you go on holiday and what’s in your wallet by using our free Identity Theft Check Service. Or for even more peace of mind, you can monitor your credit files for signs of unusual accounts or credit applications based on all three credit reference agencies for just £17.55 a month.

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