Tories plan to jettison joined-up gov't IT systems

The Conservative shadow security minister has said that the government needs a less joined-up approach to information systems.

Dame Pauline Neville-Jones, a former chair of the Joint Intelligence Committee, told the RSA Conference Europe 2008 in London that a Conservative government would be likely to adopt "separate, disaggregated and carefully controlled information systems and databases".

She went on to say that this did not mean that no information should be shared between different databases and users, but that there needs to be greater regulation and oversight of the transfer of information to address the "lax security culture that has emerged".

Recent data losses suggest that government and industry will have to work within a policy framework that favours disaggregated IT systems, according to Neville-Jones.

She pointed to procedural shortcomings as the cause of information insecurity and called for limits on the use of mobile devices and access rights. However, she said that improving data security also requires changes in leadership and accountability.

"Access to data, and the transfer of data, must be based on clear and legitimate business need. And the information supplied must be limited: it should meet the requirements of that business request — nothing more," she told delegates.