A rapist has posed as a care worker to access council
data on vulnerable teenagers. The incident highlights a danger of
creating large databases of sensitivepersonal informationthat are
difficult to secure against determined and unscrupulous
insiders.
Simeon Kellman, aged 42, used a system at Greenwich Borough
Council in south-east London, to identify teenagers who had
recently come out of foster care.
The police, as quoted in The Sun, said Kellman had made a
"substantial" number of computer searches on profiles of former
foster children.
"The lack of security at the council was breathtaking," said the
paper, quoting a "police source". It added: "Kellman was able to
log on and cherry-pick kids coming out of the care system."
But a spokesman for Greenwich Council said Kellman had had
access to the council's systems as part of his job and had been
vetted to the standard of his colleagues. The spokesman denied that
the council's systems were
insecure.