Hazel Blears's stolen laptop was not encrypted
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Laptop stolen from communities secretary Hazel Blears contained restricted information
A computer containing information on extremism, defence and the housing market was stolen from the Salford office of communities and local government secretary Hazel Blears last weekend.
The restricted information was not encrypted, and government officials admitted breaching data security rules when sending Blears the files.
Peter Housden, chief civil servant from the department of Communities and Local Government, said that the computer was password protected and emphasised that “no damage had been done” because the documents were not classified.
However, he admitted, “It is clear that papers have been sent to Hazel Blears in a way that is not fully consistent with the departmental guidance.”
The incident is the latest in a series of high-profile data security lapses, culminating in last year’s loss of details pertaining to 25 million child welfare benefit claimants by HMRC.
Other incidents include an MI6 officer leaving a laptop in a taxi after a night out, and the loss of a military laptop with data on 600,000 recruits.
Last week, secret government documents on al-Qaeda were also found left on a Waterloo train, and handed to The Independent newspaper.
McAfee security analyst Greg Day observed that while the explosion in mobile devices and “nomadic working” was improving productivity, “everyone needs a greater awareness of the data risks involved”.
“While it is impossible to eliminate the risk of laptops and other devices being stolen, security tools, such as encryption, can eliminate the risks associated with data leakage,” he said.
Various laptop suppliers and security service providers are developing innovative ways of increasing laptop security, from GPS tracking and automatic triggering of the stolen device’s webcam to an inbuilt wireless modem that can remotely destroy a hard-drive, even if the laptop is turned off.
News of the theft of Blears’s laptop coincided with the second day of IA08, the government’s “information assurance” event that took place in London.
Further reading
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