You'll recall Bruce Schneier - BT's chief security technology officer, and one of our new regular columnists, being an expert as he is on security matters.
We're grateful to him for pointing us to this page from HM Revenue and Customs on "National Insurance Numbers (NINOs): Format and Security: What to do if you suspect or discover fraud", which just in case it changes, we have a screengrab of below:
Anyone out there from HMRC prepared to explain?
Update: Aha: thanks to Eddy Madix of Bluejay, who asked HMRC what was going on, and got the reply:
Thank you for your email.
The text on this page has been withheld from the general public due to exemptions in the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
The manuals used by Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs (HMRC) are written for internal instructional purposes and because of that we have to withhold certain information when these manuals are published to the website as it's not intended for public consumption. These manuals are published in line with the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.
So... it's a sikrit manual intended for internal consumption.
Which they published to the world-readable internet.
Hope that's all clear now.
