UK Justice Secretary uses Hotmail account for official business, gets hacked

IT PRO reports another example of why officials should not use non-government e-mail accounts.

UK Justice Secretary Jack Straw has been criticised by a security vendor for using a Hotmail account for government business - an account that was subsequently hacked by Nigerian scammers.

Reports said that the fraudsters sent out hundreds of emails carrying the heading ‘The Right Hon Jack Straw MP’ to constituents, government chiefs and council bosses among others.

Mr Straw's adviser could not be reached for comment at the time of publication, but according to the Telegraph, Mr Straw said there were no security issues as the email address of his Blackburn constituency, rather than his ministerial account, was targeted.

More here.

From the UK, An FOI Champion: Q&A With Heather Brooke

The Guardian features one of my favorite UK FOI friends. Keep up the great work, Heather!

We've heard about the John Lewis list of televisions MPs can buy for their second homes, the fish tanks they can fill thanks to taxpayers' money and the fact that they don't need to supply proof of any expenses under £250.

We haven't yet heard, however, the full details of expense claims for second homes made by Gordon Brown, David Cameron and other individual MPs. We should have been able to open a Pandora's box of receipts that some believe would expose the petty fiddling practised by our democratically-elected representatives this week. But at the last minute, the Speaker, Michael Martin, announced he would appeal to the high court to keep the box shut forever.

Facing taxpayer-funded lawyers for the Commons in court will be a rather vampy American woman who spends most of her time in the British Library. Heather Brooke apologises for being late for this interview because she ripped her suspender belt running along Piccadilly. With her red lipstick and red painted fingernails, you could imagine the more misogynist MPs harrumphing that she's quite the femme fatale. Which she could be, in a strictly political sense.

More here.