Yes, good to prove the point that the system is insecure, but was it really necessary to put 6 million records out in the public domain? Couldn't the individual have put the details of a handful of ministers and public servants who were responsible out there instead? It would have made the point without potentially subjecting 6 million people to id fraud and myriad of the other crime.

But not, of course, the criminally negligent adminstrators of the systems that the data came from.

So nothing will change.

Except that the next hacker to help themselves to everyone's data won't announce that they've got it and will just quietly sell it to criminals.

Sigh. So many heads. So much sand. Waaaay too few clue-bats for them all.

Why hack the government sites when you can just wait until TNT ship the disks direct to your door or local rubbish tip or road side.....

The government spokesman admitted to digital illiteracy, as if it was an asset.

emol.com, one of the large newspapers here in Chile, printed a screen capture with readable (and usable) download links, further spreading the "word"

...and now, of course, the government websites are now denying they were ever breached.

*sigh* too cold for bananas bur nevertheles...

Fancy that, the Italians posting tax information of its citizens online, couldn't happen here in the UK could it?

Oh yes it can! I think our government is just as inept.

When I lived in Chile the government released an online system for applying for the road tax. All one had to do was enter the car registration number and up popped a screen to pay the tax. However, it also displayed the current owners address, RUT (national ID #), car reg #, and some other spurious data I have forgotten. No SSL was used during the session.

Needless to say we went outside into the car park, noted down peoples car reg numbers, and pulled up their details. For fun, not gain.

Next stop, I emailed the webmaster and a few others to explain why this was a bad idea. I never had a reply and the website remained the same up to the day I left the country.

Anonymous.

"Fancy that, the Italians posting tax information of its citizens online, couldn't happen here in the UK could it?

Oh yes it can! I think our government is just as inept"

our goverment dose not have that lvl of computer compertance to post things on line they post them in cds