Ministry of Justice reports data breach rise

2009-07-02

There were 394 data breach occurrences in the Ministry of Justice for the 2008/09 period, Justice Secretary Jack Straw has revealed.

A total of 922 IT incidents also occurred within the department in that time, while the Tribunals Service saw 61 data breaches and the National Offender Management Service 106.

He said that two of the data incidents in the 2008/09 period were deemed to be significant, compared to nine in 2007/08.

Mr Straw noted that there has been a 43 per cent rise in reported data and IT security related breaches or incidents over the last two reporting years.

"Much of this is the result of the implementation of a robust information assurance programme," he asserted.

Mr Straw concluded: "The result is an evidently improving information security management system."

The Ministry of Justice is one of the biggest departments in government.

It consists of around 95,000 people and has a budget of £9.2 billion.

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