HM Revenue & Custom's failure to protect millions of customer records is the largest example of an organisation failing to acknowledge the importance of data. But HMRC is by no means an isolated case. Every day, individuals and companies undervalue the data we have at our fingertips.

At my last company, a client of ours - an airline loyalty programme - kept its entire customer records on a laptop that came in and out of the building every evening.

As consumers, we are horrified when data gets lost. But we are all too ready to give away our private and personal information. So much of our lives is being rendered in data than ever before - CCTV cameras, Oyster cards, Tesco Clubcards - and we are attuned to the need to hand it over rather than questioning why it is required.

We've become too demanding, and frankly too lazy. We want to research, buy and pay for everything as easily and as quickly as possible. We have been conditioned to think that by handing over our data we will be entitled to a better deal or offer, not that we are giving away a little bit of our soul each time we do it.

We've also changed our attitudes to relationships and the way that we communicate. We've begun to identify with icons and brands more than we do with people. And suddenly companies, more than people, want to have a relationship with us so we've signed up to their loyalty cards.

For the most part, the data we give is used to understand us better and give us free stuff. And because this tactic is so successful we have started networking to create our own loyalty programmes by inviting people to join our own loyalty schemes (our Facebook sites).

But just as soon as you give away your personal data, it's 'out there' and someone can just as easily pick it up and use it. If Mr X from HMRC realised that he was carrying around the souls of 25,000,000 people on two computer discs, would he have been more careful?

I'm not suggesting that we return to the dark days of paper records, or banish loyalty cards forever. The key is in the safeguards put in place to protect us.

Our trust in HMRC, as part of the government, should be beyond question. Not only has it lost our trust, it has failed to assure the 25 million families that it has quickly - albeit belatedly - bolted the door.

Paul Alexander is CEO of data and customer strategy consultancy beyondanalysis