‘Serious’ security risks with ContactPoint

As reported in the Daily Telegraph today, the Deloitte report into ContactPoint has finally been made available after the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) stepped in.

The details provide further evidence that ContactPoint is as dangerous as it is fundamentally flawed:

The confidential Deloitte “security review” confirms fears that vulnerable young people could have been put at greater risk by ContactPoint, rather than being protected by it.

It states: “It should be noted that risk can only be managed, not eliminated, and therefore there will always be a risk of data security incidents occurring.”

The study found the security processes used by IT departments at local authorities “pose a significant risk to ContactPoint and its assets”, as they do not reach a “recognised standard”.

Meanwhile there could be “information leakage” if electronic and printed copies of material from ContactPoint are not disposed of properly. 

When Big Brother Watch has spoken out against ContactPoint (as we have done on several occasions as well as in our election manifesto) our concerns were always that it was too large and potentially leaky a state database. This concern was amplified because it was a database of around 11 million young children who would have no say in the matter.

The new Government has pledged to scrap ContactPoint – but the stakeholder interests desperate to keep this terrible system alive are numerous and have the ear of ministers. Until the name and its database have been sent to the scrapheap, we will always be concerned that ContactPoint could be resurrected in a different form.

By Dylan Sharpe