[Dataloss] Ministry of Justice loses 45,000 personal records

[Jon Turner]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article4546434.ece
>From Times OnlineAugust 16, 2008

Ministry of Justice loses 45,000 personal recordsKevin Dowling
The Government's reputation for protecting people's sensitive
electronic data has been dealt yet another blow with the revelation
that the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) lost the records of 45,000 people.

The information included dates of birth, national insurance numbers,
criminal records, and in a single incident, the loss of bank details
and other information belonging to 27,000 people working for suppliers
to the department.

In another case, officials lost an "inadequately protected" laptop
storing the job applications of 13 people who were applying for
judicial positions with the service.

The revelations in the department's annual accounts come after similar
blunders saw two CDs with the child benefit records of 25 million
families lost in the post and the loss of 658 laptops by the Ministry
of Defence.

In 30,000 cases the MoJ did not notify the people affected, judging
that it did not need to do so after carrying out a risk assessment.

In January an "inadequately protected" laptop containing records of
14,000 fine defaulters including names, dates of birth, addresses,
offences, and - in a fifth of cases - national insurance numbers, went
missing from a "secured" government office.

In June 2007 records of 27,000 people working for suppliers to the
MoJ, again kept on "inadequately protected" storage devices, were
lost.