Brazen Theft Makes Public Wonder

"Because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life! ...How may I live without my name? I have given you my soul; leave me my name! " -- John Proctor, The Crucible (Arthur Miller)

Sorry, Johnny-boy, they've taken your name, too; and probably your history; and many of your most-private details. They took the mainframe computers, right out of the airport at Sydney, Australia -- and many Aussies, and others, are worried about the sanctity of their 'government-protected' data.

The airport itself is supposed to be a secure facility, and the Customs computer room is more-secure yet; that, plus the huge amount of Customs processing that naturally goes on there, made it a perfect spot to locate the Customs Service computers. That security, that trust, has been broken in spectacular fashion, and more than a few heads should roll, this time.

In late August, thieves posing as computer technicians talked their way into a secured government-only area at Sydney's airport, disconnected two mainframe computers, and carried them out on dollies.

The government, now finally admitting the theft, is holding details of the computer thefts pretty closely; but it is saying that the data thereon wouldn't have been of a 'confidential' nature.

Parliament, of course, has a committee that looks at airport security issues; its chair wasn't informed of the theft for ten days... Customs said they didn't want to spill the beans about the theft and bugger the ongoing police investigation.

The Sydney Morning Herald was quoted in the BBC as saying that "top security communications [among] customs investigators, the federal police and Australia's main domestic spy agency ASIO had been lost."

Senator Chris Ellison, who formed the Australian Crime Commission just a year ago, and has the unenviable job of being (at least for now) the Minister for Justice and Customs, announced an investigation. He has also promised better security for his department's data and hardware. The airport has not said what additional measures, if any, it plans to implement, or who will pay for them.

FMI: a recent Ellison program