Woman blitzed by text messages after data breach

A WOMAN was subjected to a large number of text messages after a civil servant in Revenue improperly accessed her file and passed it on to a third party.

This was one of the cases highlighted by Data Protection Commissioner Billy Hawkes yesterday as he identified this practice of improper access by civil servants to information on members of the public was one of the main threats to the privacy of Irish citizens.

Mr Hawkes said one of his priorities during 2008 would be to highlight the responsibility of government to safeguard personal information entrusted to it by members of the public.