BBC report Capita fined £14m after millions had data stolen

The BBC report that the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has fined outsourcing firm Capita £14m.

Reason: the personal data of 6.6 million people was stolen in a cyber-attack.

The ICO reportedly said Capita had "failed to ensure the security of processing of personal data which left it at significant risk".

The hack occurred in March 2023, when it emerged that Capita had left a pool of data unsecured online.

Information including home addresses and passport images "began to circulate on the dark web".

325 of 600 pension schemes administered by capita were affected.

"Capita failed in its duty to protect the data entrusted to it by millions of people," said Information Commissioner John Edwards.

"The scale of this breach and its impact could have been prevented had sufficient security measures been in place."

The BBC also reminded its audience that "earlier this year, retailer Co-op was hit by a hack where the details of all of its roughly 6.5m customers was stolen (following) other high-profile cyber-attacks to M&S, Harrods and Jaguar Land Rover".

And this week the National Cyber Security Centre confirmed that there had been "an increase in nationally significant attacks this year".

What prompted this post?

The concern expressed by company directors about the potential increased risk of identity theft resulting from mandatory digital identity verification (Digital ID) becoming a legal requirement for company directors and Persons of Significant Control from November 2025.

Consequences

The BBC also report in the same article that the UK Government wrote to company bosses advising them to "have their contingency plans written down on paper, in case they lose access to their computers in a hack".

For the record this company director has not received any such communication from the UK Government.

I have however received several emails from Companies House reminding me to 'surrender' my biometric data into their 'safe hands'.

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