Earlier this year, entertainment company Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Limited received a fine of £250,000 from the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) following a serious breach of the Data Protection Act.
The penalty came after the Sony PlayStation Network Platform was hacked in April 2011, compromising the personal information of millions of customers, including their names, addresses, email addresses, dates of birth and account passwords. Customers' payment card details were also at risk.
Our personal data is valuable – it is the money that makes the world of the cybercriminal go round – yet every day we will give out our personal data in some form or another, barely giving it a thought as to who we are giving this personal data to, what they will use it for or whether they will keep it safe.
Consumer research commissioned by Experian CreditExpert in 2012 found that the average person has 26 different online accounts. Worryingly, 24% of users use the same password for most profiles.
By and large, personal information held about us is stored securely and used legitimately, but even the best organisations make mistakes and if our personal data is wrong, out of date or not held securely, it can cause real problems. It's quite possible that inaccurate information could mean being unfairly refused a job, benefits, credit, or a place at college. Young people need to know how to identify the signs of things going wrong and understand how they can take action to put things right.
An important lesson for young people is that data protection isn't just about how organisations and companies store and use our personal information; we need to take personal responsibility too. It is estimated that a determined criminal needs only three pieces of personal information to begin to carry out an identity theft, so young people need to learn early the value of their personal data, how to check it is accurate and how to keep it safe.
It is estimated that more than 12 million pieces of personal data were traded online in the first four months of 2012.
Experian CreditExpert
• What is personal information?
• Where might my personal information be held?
• What could it be used for?
• What rights do I have over information about me?
• How can I keep my personal information safe?
• What about identity theft?
As the UK's independent authority set up to uphold information rights in the public interest The Information Commissioner's Office has commissioned this set of teaching materials to give teachers an introduction to information rights and provide them with a set of lesson activities to raise some of the key issues with students, so that as children and young people they can become aware of their data rights, understand the potential threats to their privacy, and know how to protect themselves.
Content on this page is provided by ICO – supporter of the citizenship hub.
