The database state is a term coined in the UK very recently. It is because of the increasing use of Databases to store vast amounts of data on its citizens under the pre-tense of “national security” there are a number of these in existence in the UK. The biggest is properly the National DNA database which is currently the largest DNA database in the World with over 4 million individual samples. One thing from his is that not all of those people have been convicted of any crimes but were arrested and had there DNA taken once they were let go there DNA details were not deleted.
A recent government-funded inquiry found that the public think that innocent people’s DNA should be deleted from the database. Despite this the Home Office want to continue there hoarding of data on citizens, guilty or not! A report will be released next year into the DNA database and it is expected to outline concerns about the vast amount of data on people who have done nothing wrong.
The second database is the NIR (National Identity Register) database this is still not quite in operation but it will store 50 categories of data about all adult individuals. All other databases will be linked to this, so it will be fully centralized. That creates a big security risk as if/when that database is compromised by a malicious hacker. The most secure computer is one that is turn off, note that it not completely secure, but of course someone could use Social Engineering skills to tell someone to go turn it on. Recent Government leaks of personal data show how easy it is for the most sensitive data (such as bank details!) how long is it before a server is broken into, or maybe it has already happened and the government hasn’t informed us.
Recently the The Times newspaper revealed that the “e-passports” can easily be cloned. This was unsurprisingly as a number of “hackers” had revealed this when e-passports were first implemented.
The database state won’t make us safer as no computer is 100% secure. If one of these databases is compromised and the data is stolen it will mean that very citizens personal information will be stolen, this could aid terrorism, organized crime. In the modern age the big weapon will be information, if you have the address of every person in an entire country that is certainly a step up.
A cyber attack on a nation has now started occurring. In 2007 Estonia suffered a number attacks against organizations such the Estonia Parliament, banks, ministers, newspapers and broadcasters. This could easily happen in the UK and it is unknown if the UK has enough personnel with the experts to deal deal with an attack. A way to avoid this data from been stolen is not to gather data that you don’t need, which is something the government have decided they will gather data that they do not require.
Image from NO2ID.net
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