IRRV Alert August 4 2008
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Extent of data losses is revealed
Extent of data losses is revealed | |
Sensitive data potentially affecting more than four million people was lost by government departments in the year to April, BBC analysis has found. Whitehall departments have included details of personal information losses in their annual financial statements. Cases included the theft of a laptop with details of 17,000 Sats markers, and the loss of the National Insurance numbers of a further 17,000 people. The details of 25 million child benefit claimants vanished last year. Commons statement This led to the recommendation that government departments should give details of personal data losses. The 12-month period to April saw the Ministry of Justice losing information affecting more than 45,000 people, in some cases revealing their criminal records and credit histories. The Home Office lost the personal details of 3,000 seasonal agricultural workers - including their passport numbers - when two CDs went missing in the post. In five separate cases, the Foreign Office lost information affecting about 190 people. And there were six occasions when the Department for Transport misplaced personal data, including three million records of driving-test candidates in May 2007. The Ministry of Defence lost an unencrypted laptop, a matter on which Defence Secretary Des Brown reported to the Commons in January. The computer contained 620,000 personal records, including bank account and National Insurance numbers. It also held limited information on 450,000 people named as referees or next-of-kin by would-be servicemen and women. | |
