Security Bullet In
Communiques from the security front, sir
Wednesday 13 February 2008, 5:38 PM
Soldier's unencrypted laptop stolen
A soldier has had his personal laptop stolen while out for the night.
According to a source close to the incident, reports that the laptop contained the personal details of more than 200 soldiers, as well as the names of their wives and children, were exagerated.
Apparently, Royal Engineers Captain Luke Badger had his unencrypted personal laptop stolen while out for the night at the Troy club in London. While the laptop contained some details, there was nothing secret on it, according to the source.
However, the Sun newspaper, which the laptop was handed in to, reported that the laptop "contains personal details of more than 200 soldiers, plus data on their movements, military exercises and weapons store locations."
When I rang the MoD, they could offer me no comment, apart from:
"We take all security breaches extremely seriously and the MoD and Army will be investigating this incident as a matter of urgency."
Nick Cater, general manager for Iron Mountain Digital, said that devices handling sensitive data can be wiped remotely if lost of stolen.
"Recent high-profile breaches prove that no organisation is immune from data loss," said Cater in an email statement. "And while encryption can soften the blow, it is far from failsafe. On top of encryption, companies need to look into how data can be automatically wiped from stolen or lost devices in order to keep it safe."
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