Mrs

[Raina]

Hi all,

 

My mum & sister went to the opticians the other day and saw a big bag full of shredded paper/Documents

 

My mum asked if she could have it for the rats & chickens and they called the manager out and he said yes!

 

But as we were putting it in with the rats you could clearly see names & phone numbers on the paper (some of it wasn't shredded properly)

 

Just wondered if they did right in letting us have this paper with all those details on?

 

 

Oh & the rats fit that much of it in their house they had a hard time trying to get in themselves

[Space Chick]

Thats a bit worrying

[Raina]

Thats a bit worrying

 

Sure is

 

My mum said she doesn't know what would of happened if she didn't ask for it

[ChrisP]

They should shred and discard of it properly, not leave parts of it where you can make out names and numbers, surely?

Mind you, if it wasn't bank details or credit card numbers...

 

lol about the rats

[Valkyrie]

Cor - perhaps your mum had better let them know just in case they think it's all OK.

Ahhhh liddle watties.

[Raina]

Cor - perhaps your mum had better let them know just in case they think it's all OK.

Ahhhh liddle watties.

 

 

She's going to

 

She said she doesn't like the thought that her details could be given away so easily

 

The rats are evil, 2 of them are slightly purple at the moment (play fighting turned into real fighting so sprayed the cuts with purple spray )

[Valkyrie]

Rather pretty now then!

[ChrisP]

I thought you meant actual purple mice then, it reminded me of a book as read as a child, "The Green Mouse" or something like that. Hmmmm, i wonder where that is *off to find it*

[Fizzle Knit]

Under the Data Protection Act 1998 the optician is required to keep personal data secure, and to take appropriate steps when it comes to discarding it. Sounds like he has the same cheapo shredder we have at home - wouldn't be difficult to put the strips back together to make sense of the information. He should be using a cross-cut shredder at least.

[Rhapsody]

I suppose you could say his security has gone to rat.....poo! Yes Data Protection blablabla but I think people worry far too much about this stuff- so someone gets hold of your name and phone number and the fact you wear glasses what then? They call you up and mock your eyesight? The optician should abide by the law but no harm done eh?

[Fizzle Knit]

I agree Rhapsody that people can get tied up in knots over data protection rules, and wrongly use the law to get out of their own responsibilities rather than using it as a mneans to protect privacy. On the other hand if I had given my personal information to an optician and discovered that he was being careless in how he disposed of that info, I'd be concerned that any info of mine, including bank and health details, might also be dealt with in the same way, not just the mere fact of my having visited there. Sounds like he just needs to invest in a better shredder!

[majorbloodnock]

.... Yes Data Protection blablabla but I think people worry far too much about this stuff- so someone gets hold of your name and phone number and the fact you wear glasses what then? They call you up and mock your eyesight? The optician should abide by the law but no harm done eh?

 

That's something we don't know.

 

The Data Protection act requires that data controllers (in this case, the optician) safeguard personal data. Personal data means any data that can reasonably identify an individual. Therefore, "John Smith" is not personal data, since there are lots of John Smiths. "0112 234 567" is not personal data, since it's only a number, but doesn't relate to any particular individual. However, put the two together and you have personal data.

 

How could that be used? If someone had a person's name and telephone number, along with the knowledge it came from an optician, it's been proven not to be difficult that they could ring that person, play the role of the optician and obtain further personal information. Depending on how alert the target was, it's easy to see how such a conversation could end up with a request for a credit card number. Alternatively, they could fool the target into thinking they'd booked an appointment for a particular day/time, thereby revealing their home would be likely to be empty long enough to burgle. The more personal information a wrong-doer has, the more convincing they can become. However, given any sort of handle, it's amazing what can be elicited. The process is called social engineering, and should never be underestimated.

 

I'll give you a practical example that has happened before. All web domain names (bbc.co.uk etc.) have to be registered, and have to have a contact name, telephone number and, if relevant, company. That information is available publicly. In at least one recorded case, a wrong-doer noted the technical contact's name and company (let's assume them to be "Joe Bloggs"). They then rang the company and got, from the switchboard, the phone number of someone else from that company (let's say "Fred Jones"), then rang that person.

 

"Hi, Fred, it's Joe Bloggs from the IT department."

"Hi, Joe"

"Reason I'm ringing is that I'm seeing some errors in the logs on one of our servers whenever your account is trying to log on, and I was trying to get it resolved. Hopefully, all it'll need is for you to reset your password."

 

Then a few minutes of conversation getting the user to do stuff that's technical but non-obtrusive, all the while compounding Fred's confidence that it really is Joe Bloggs and that he really is in the IT department.

 

"Hmm. You sure you're logging in with the correct username, Fred? What username have you typed in? No, that sounds fine. What about the domain? No, that's correct; it really should work. OK, what I think is the easiest at this point is if you go through the change password steps, then I'll reset the account on the server to the same password."

 

OK, at that point, wrong-doer has person's full network credentials and password simply through having a technical contact name and some chutzpah. He can now log onto that company's network as a legitimate user and gain all sorts of access to all sorts of information. And before you think it sounds far-fetched, it has happened. I've paraphrased and anonymised, but the salient points of this story are real (though nothing to do with bbc.co.uk, so far as I'm aware, nor for the company for which I work).

[Valkyrie]

[Happy-Mama]

I agree very scary. I've always been pedantic about shredding personal info and was beginning to think I was just being paranoid but after that story I will continue with the shredding...

[chickenNutter]

What they at your opticians is a cross shredder, which shreds both ways. we have one of those where I work. I use bog standard shredded paper from our house in the laying area of the eglu. Theory is, once it is covered in chicken poo, you would have to be a pretty sad baddy to steal it out of our bins and then try to piece it together and make sense of it.

[Valkyrie]

Got chicken poo all over ours - and mum's.

[Rhapsody]

 

 

[majorbloodnock]

What they at your opticians is a cross shredder, which shreds both ways. we have one of those where I work. I use bog standard shredded paper from our house in the laying area of the eglu. Theory is, once it is covered in chicken poo, you would have to be a pretty sad baddy to steal it out of our bins and then try to piece it together and make sense of it.

 

Funny you should say that, but I'm currently reading a book called "Churchill's Wizards - the British genius for deception" by Nicholas Rankin. It's about how Britain was successful in employing smoke and mirrors to help the war effort in both World Wars.

 

In one chapter, it makes mention that one particular British Intelligence officer in World War 1 - Dick Meinertzhagen - operating in the Middle East discovered that the enemy officers' latrines were a good source of soiled documents providing, "filthy, though accurate information".

 

[keyhole kate]

When my mum passed away I requested her medical notes and got someone elses I would have made a big thing of it but for the fact I didn't want to distress someone else's relatives

[Raina]

Ohhh didn't know you could get a cross shredder. (might buy one )

 

We normally shred all our documents and use them for the pets bedding,then once it's all used we burn it (then sometimes use the ash for the girls dust bath )

[Guest]

Shame that being helpful could end up not being helpful afterall, agree I wouldnt be too happy if my details were given away perhaps a quiet word to get a cross shredder in future, hope the rats etc enjoyed peeing all over it!

 

I used my statements mixed up in my horses bedding and was completely facinated to try to read all my old churned statements up they use to blow around the stables, in the end I didnt find them very absorbant so stopped using them.

 

I now am not so environmentally friendly and burn the lot just to be sure

 

 

Glad they never ended up in the wrong hands

 

indie