14 Jan 2010

Data loss 'to become more costly for firms'

Businesses that are deemed to have acted irresponsibly and have lost data as a result could soon face larger fines from the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), it has been revealed.

Justice secretary Jack Straw has given his backing to a new initiative that will allow the ICO to fine businesses up to £500,000 for irresponsible behaviour in terms of data protection.

In addition, he has called for those responsible to be charged with criminal offences, meaning they could face the possibility of a custodial sentence for their actions.

"What this means in practice is that from April this year, the ICO now has a bigger stick to wield," commented Simon McDougall, head of privacy and data protection at Deloitte.

Elsewhere, Sureyya Cansoy, associate director at Intellect, recently warned that government cutbacks in IT spending for the NHS could result in more cases of data loss over the coming years.