We are told that the Government will create a secure database of gun owners, despite the fact they can’t even manage the existing register.
Also despite the fact that they seriously breached privacy due to a data breach during the gun confiscation process.
And despite the fact that Police officers are routinely arrested and charged for illegally accessing Police databases on behalf of criminal syndicates.
And despite the fact that the Reserve Bank is currently fighting off a massive breach of their own systems:
It is starting to become possible to join some of the dots and guess at the possible consequences of a hack of the Reserve Bank.
The latest information raises questions about whether the bank could have avoided the incident, but there is ‘good news’ too.
A file-sharing application called FTA that was supplied by Californian company Accellion and that was used by the Reserve Bank to communicate with “external stakeholders” was illegally accessed.
FTA could be likened to a corporate version of Dropbox.
Given the role of the Reserve Bank and the kind of product FTA is, it is likely the Reserve Bank will have been using it to receive large volumes of financial data from New Zealand-registered banks, and perhaps insurers.
The Reserve Bank has been circumspect so far though, saying the nature and extent of information that was hacked is still being determined, but that it “may include some commercially and personally sensitive information”.
Stuff
Excuse me if I’m not just a bit cynical about believing the rhetoric of the Police and their flunkies at the Police Union who are all constantly pushing for a comprehensive gun register.
Quite simply, based on the past history of Police and other Government departments, the very last people I would trust with keeping something as important as a gun register would be the Police.
They have proven time and again that they are not the friends of gun owners. It is rare these days to find a gun owner who trusts Police as it didn’t take them long to destroy that trust.
I have zero confidence that they will overcome a long history of incompetence and suddenly become brilliant data and security architects in order to maintain a register.
