Computing features editor Chris Slinn recently received an envelope of informative literature about litter bins, bollards and gritters.

This was strange, seeing as I, and not the mysterious Chris Slinn, am features editor of Computing.

While company expenses might stretch to a taxi fare or a meal with a contact, it’s unlikely they’ll stretch to buying me my own grit spreader.

The double mix-up – the wrong person being sent irrelevant information – suggests that someone, somewhere had a lax moment with a couple of databases.

Such negligence is a widespread and unacceptable side-effect of the knowledge economy, where businesses have to deal with an ever-increasing range of customer records.

At the launch of his annual report last week, Information Commissioner Richard Thomas called on all UK chief executives to take the safekeeping of personal information more seriously.

Thomas referred to the inexcusable security lapses of the past 12 months that have seen laptops holding personal details stolen and credit card statements found in waste bags.

The annual report highlights how the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has received almost 24,000 enquiries and complaints concerning personal information.

Such grievances are not hard to find. A mix-up between two banks meant that my friend recently received another woman’s personal banking information.

The bank offered £35 compensation, which is pretty measly when you consider they will sting you with a £30 bill for going just £10 overdrawn.

Which offence is worse – letting your account slip into the red, or giving personal banking details for free to a total stranger?

Perhaps part of the explanation for a lax attitude to personal information is the cheap availability of data.

Security specialist Symantec recently found there is a global underworld of criminal organisations selling stolen information.

UK-based credit cards are available from as little as £1.03, and full identities – US bank account, credit card, date of birth and government-issued identification number – can be bought for just £7.22.

With personal data devalued to such an extent, is it any wonder companies are playing fast and loose with customer information?

So what if a user downloads personal data to a USB stick, and leaves it on the seat of a bus in Birmingham?

You should care. First, identity theft costs the UK economy more than £1.7bn per year, according to the UK’s fraud prevention service Cifas.

Second, the technology leader will be responsible for ensuring security systems do not allow costly information leaks to take place.

But such activities are difficult to prevent, especially with IT managers finding it hard to deal with the downward trend in security spending.

Analyst Forrester Research found European and US chief information officers spent 7.75 per cent of their IT budgets on security last year, compared with 8.92 per cent in 2005.

However, Forrester also found that a drop in spending is not an indication of security’s declining significance, with 63 per cent of technology leaders suggesting security upgrades are a business priority.

It will be your job to convince the board that spending more on information security is worthwhile.

What do you think? Read my blog at: http://knowledge.computing.co.uk