MP warns criminals will attack new ID database
The Liberal Democrats have warned that the National Identity Register (NIR) will come under sustained attack by criminals, after it was revealed that last year the identity of 13,000 civil servants working for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) was stolen and used to submit bogus tax claims.
The Liberal Democrats have warned that the National Identity Register (NIR) will come under sustained attack by criminals, after it was revealed that last year the identity of 13,000 civil servants working for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) was stolen and used to submit bogus tax claims.
Nick Clegg, a spokesman for the Liberal Democrats said that the theft was a terrible omen for the forthcoming ID cards scheme: The Governments claims that ID cards will cut identity fraud look increasingly unrealistic. If the ID cards database is breached, people could find their iris scans and fingerprints as well as personal data and national insurance numbers stolen.
He also called for an urgent review of the DWP theft and investigation into whether the NIR could be similarly compromised. The news comes after The Times newspaper reported that more the 300,000 foreigners are given national insurance numbers with few checks made on their backgrounds and status.