22 June 2007
Mobile phone provider Orange has been found guilty of breaking data protection laws after an investigation found it was putting its customers' personal and financial details at risk.
New staff members at a call centre in North Tyneside were found to have retained their standard passwords instead of changing them, providing anyone who knew the starting password with access to customers' bank details, personal information and caller lists.
The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) launched the investigation after it received a complaint regarding the way in which Orange processed personal information - in particular, the way in which new members of staff were allowed to share usernames and passwords when accessing the company IT system.
Orange will now be required to commit to cooperating fully with the Data Protection Act or risk prosecution.
Mick Gorrill, Head of Regulatory Action at the ICO, told Computerworlduk.com: "Organisations that process individuals' personal information must do so in compliance with the Data Protection Act. If they do not, they not only risk further action from the information commissioner but also risk losing the trust of their customers."
In the meantime, an Orange spokesman assured the BBC that the security of customer information was "paramount" to the company.
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