Techotic

According to figures calculated by the BBC. The U.K. government has lost the personal information of up to four million of its citizens in one year alone. But the thing is, it is getting worse, not better.

Earlier this week, the Ministry of Justice admitted it had lost 45,000 people’s details throughout the year, on laptops, external security devices and paper, and that 30,000 of them had not been notified. The MoJ said it had a “dedicated information assurance programme” in place to improve data security.

Before that, the Home Office announced it had lost the data of 3,000 seasonal agricultural workers on two unencrypted CDs.

In May, the Department for Transport lost the data of three million learner drivers. Other data losses occurred at the Foreign Office, which lost 190 people’s data in five incidents.

In January, the Ministry of Defence said it had lost a laptop containing the details of 620,000 recruits and potential recruits, and some information on 450,000 referees for job applicants.

In march the UK government revealed over 11,000 military ID cards have been lost or stolen in the last two years, while the UK Home Office launched an investigation in February after a buyer acquired a laptop on eBay that contained a disc with confidential information.

As the government spends £12.7 billion (US$25.4) putting NHS patient health records onto a central computer, there have been a string of data losses from NHS hospitals. In June, two NHS trusts lost unencrypted laptops containing 31,000 patient records. In May, 38,000 patient records on tape were lost after being posted by the Isle of Wight Primary Care Trust.

[via computerworld]