Data Breach In Iowa But Impact In UK

This is a perfect example of how a data breach in one location can have consequences somewhere else far away. In this case, the breach was in Iowa and the data was of three million British driver's licenses applicants.

The facility in Iowa shipped the names, addresses and phone numbers of the applicants on a hard drive that got lost.

This is the second major data breach for the UK in a month.

One lesson here is that data on computers is mobile and global. It's not like old-fashioned paper documents that stay in one physical location. Sure, they can be stolen, but the impact isn't as immediate or widespread as electronic data.

Pearson Driving Assessments in Iowa City, who allegedly had the drive when it was lost, will now be transferring data electronically, as a result of the incident.