[ISN] UK.gov loses 29 million personal records

[InfoSec News]

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/20/uk_gov_lost_records/

By John Leyden
The Register
20th August 2008

UK government departments have managed to leak a total of 29 million 
personal records over a single year.

In addition to the 25 million records spilled in the infamous lost child 
benefit CDs debacle, another four million records went astray in other 
stuff-ups, some of which have previously gone unreported.

Since the HMRC data loss fiasco, Whitehall departments have begun to 
include data of information leaks as part of their annual financial 
statements. An analysis of these figures by the BBC revealed that 
personal information disclosures across UK government departments, 
excluding information on the lost child benefit CDs, averaged 300,000 
records a month in the year up until April 2008 (the end of the UK tax 
year).

The loss of three million records of driving-test candidates by the 
Department of Transport in May 2007 makes up the bulk of these figures. 
The disappearance of an unencrypted laptop containing 620,000 personal 
records, including sensitive financial information such as bank account 
and National Insurance numbers, by the Ministry of Defence in January 
was another big contributor to the running count.

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