The Financial Times this morning has a video that just gobsmacked
me. I know I've been vocal in the past about ID protection but I'm now at the point that I've been terribly enlightened...and saddened!
An American journalist takes us to see another journalist in Russia who visits a store that sells databases on everyone. I mean everyone! Poor old Vladimir is no exception. These databases come from all, and I do mean all, of the public service agencies;
we know that public corporation databases have been available on the black market for years so now the criminals have access to the lot! It's all very real! It's not science fiction anymore. Perhaps it's all too late!
Can we do anything to stop this happening here? The first thing that we need to do is to stop putting our head in the sand and saying that it can't...or that it won't happen. Nothing can go wrong, we are different. That's just bullshit.
Dealing with the sheer number of agencies that have our details increases the risk that just one of them has a bent employee. So we shouldn't trust any of them. I would rather see a single agency that manages ID - the exposure to the bent employee risk
has to be less than the alternative.
And don't tell me that putting your eggs in one basket increases the risk either. If you leave the basket in a safe place and it's not moved, the eggs will be fine.
Although, the video has made me rather shell shocked!