by Alan Bonnici

Created on: December 30, 2007

The personal data of every citizen of Malta consisting of ID and passport numbers, name, address, age, phone, email, credit card and bank account numbers and a dozen other items of information require less than the storage capacity available on a single CD-ROM disk. While a CD-ROM disk is a medium familiar to many, it is not the most compact. Four times the storage capacity of a CD-ROM can now be stashed in a USB pen drive having an area of less than 4 square centimetres. And such pen drives are not lab animals; you can go and buy one tomorrow. Electronic data has no weight and takes up no space. A USB pen drive which is empty looks identical to one which is packed solid. Transferring all the data from its original repository to a USB pen drive takes a few minutes; is silent and above all, leaves the original copy unaltered. With the data listed here one can impersonate a person, send out mail shots (electronic, telephonic and paper), use credit cards to effect purchases or perform demographic information on the data. Most of the information listed above can be sold to hackers and spammers for good money if one knows where to go.

Compare this to a situation in which someone wants to take the same information on paper. If one takes the originals then these will probably be missed sooner or later. On the other hand, if one decides to photocopy the original, the amount of supplies necessary to complete the task may get noticed. Assuming that, unlike McLaren who were caught red handed copying Ferrari documents at a copy bureau, one owns the photocopier, toner, paper and the time necessary to duplicate the documents, transporting them is a huge challenge necessitating both man and machine.

The quantity and ease with which data can be carried places a new responsibility on those who carry such data. In today's connected world, the need to hold data outside the confines of a properly secured and controlled area should be questioned, Rather than make a copy of the data when working from home, one should consider hooking via a secure channel to the work computer. Therefore if the home computer is stolen no data would be actually stored on it and other than the cost of the device itself no additional loss would be registered.

Not everyone has or can justify a properly secured premise in which to centrally house all the data they use. Many SMEs, NGOs and other "normal" computer users have a form of security they use to protect other items of value within the boundaries of

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