Encryption software Egress Switch has been shortlisted for 'Software Package of the Year' 2011 at the British Accountancy Awards.

Egress Switch simplifies encryption and enables clients to reply completely free of charge, unlike conventional email encryption products that are often complicated to use and difficult to deploy.

Egress Switch is rapidly becoming the product of choice for Accountancy firms looking to transfer confidential information by email. Designed to cater for sole practitioners to multi-office firms, Egress Switch enables accountants to share sensitive information electronically, using a combination of public and private cloud infrastructure.

Morto is a worm that allows unauthorized access to an affected computer.  It may not sound that serious, but once on your machine it has full administrator access, giving it access to all the files and information on your computers. 

Morto (otherwise know as "Worm: Win32/Morto.A") is an old‐fashioned computer worm, which spreads over the Internet and targets Windows workstations and servers by exploiting poorly chosen weak passwords.  Over the last two weeks it has spread rapidly round the world, showing just how many organisations have weak administrator passwords on their network.

Two charities have been reprimanded by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) for breaching the Data Protection Act after un-encrypted computers containing personal data were stolen.

Sheffield-based charity Asperger’s Children and Carers Together reported a breach to the ICO after an unencrypted laptop, containing personal data relating to 80 children who attended its sessions, was stolen from an employee’s home in December last year. The laptop was being used to store medication information as well as children’s names, addresses and dates of birth.

Nottingham-based charity Wheelbase Motor Project also reported a breach after the theft of an unencrypted hard drive from the charity’s offices. The device contained personal information relating to 50 young people and included some details about past criminal convictions and child protection issues.

The owner of former solicitors firm ACS Law has been served with a monetary penalty from the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) for failing to keep sensitive personal information secure.

Andrew Crossley – as data controller of the former law firm - has been served with a monetary penalty of £1,000.  However, Information Commissioner, Christopher Graham, has stated that, were ACS Law still trading the fine could have been as high as £200,000.

Graham said: “This case proves that a company’s failure to keep information secure can have disastrous consequences. Sensitive personal details relating to thousands of people were made available for download to a worldwide audience and will have caused them embarrassment and considerable distress. The security measures ACS Law had in place were barely fit for purpose in a person’s home environment, let alone a business handling such sensitive details.