[Dataloss] IE: Financial watchdog's laptop computer stolen from hotel

[lyger]

(So let me get this straight... the laptop was stolen about three years 
ago, there was no sensitive data on it, and this is news... it doesn't 
help that I'm watching SNL's Weekend Update at the moment. O_o )

http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/financial-watchdogs-laptop-computer-stolen-from-hotel-1372336.html

A LAPTOP computer owned by the Financial Regulator was stolen from a hotel 
room in Cork about three years ago, the Sunday Independent has learned.

The theft of the laptop, which was not encrypted, was reported to the 
gardai at the time. Although the Financial Regulator said no confidential 
information was on the laptop, only some of the watchdog's laptops are 
currently encrypted. Encryption protects information on laptops by 
disguising data so only authorised individuals can read it. Most of the 
banks overseen by the Regulator encrypt their laptops. AIB has encrypted 
its laptops since 1993.

A spokeswoman for the Regulator said the laptop was "one of a number of 
items stolen from rooms in the same hotel at that time".

"It is our policy not to store confidential data on the hard drives of 
laptops," said a spokeswoman for the Regulator. The stolen laptop did not 
contain any information, she added, because data used on the laptop was 
held on a separate computer disc. "There were no discs in the laptop, nor 
were any discs stolen," said the spokeswoman.

[...]