Three military laptops stolen in UK, Govt issues diktat

LONDON: British civil servants have been banned from removing laptops containing sensitive information from their offices after it was revealed that three military laptops containing personal details of thousands of potential new recruits have been stolen from the staff since 2005.

Explaining the loss of a Royal Navy laptop containing the personal data of 600,000 people earlier this month, British Defence Secretary Des Browne told the House of Commons that an inquiry would be carried out into weaknesses in Ministry of Defence information security procedures.

He insisted that there was no evidence that the unencrypted files were deliberately targeted.

"No encrypted laptops or drives containing personal data should be taken outside secured official premises," Cabinet Secretary Gus O' Donnell instructed in an e-mail to all departments.

A Royal Navy internal investigation had been completed, all similar laptops recalled and "appropriate action" was being considered against the officer responsible, Browne said  on Monday evening.

Earlier, a Royal Navy laptop had been stolen from a car in Manchester in October 2006 and an army recruiting laptop stolen from a careers office in Edinburgh in December 2005.

In the latest case, a Royal Navy recruiting officer reportedly left a laptop containing sensitive information in his car overnight on January 8.

Details on the computer included passport, National Insurance and driver's license numbers, family details and NHS numbers of people who applied to join the armed forces. Other laptops could have similar material.
      
The 3,700 people whose bank details are missing have been informed that the information is potentially in the public domain.
     
They join 25 million UK residents on the Child Benefit database and thousands of learner drivers who have been warned to monitor their bank accounts closely after lapses of government data protection.
       
Browne said it was initially thought the data was fully encrypted but ministers were subsequently informed it was not.
      
Liam Fox, the shadow defence Secretary, said 347 laptops had beens stolen from the Defence Ministry since 2004.