Government laptop losses a boon for security channel

A year on from the lost HMRC disks the government continues to lose data in large numbers with it having to admit the flow of missing laptops continues.

In response to a question posed by Shadow Housing Minister Grant Shapps MP a host of government departments revealed that since last November 53 laptops have been lost and a number of USB sticks.

The worse offending department was the Department of Health with 14 laptops lost in the last 12 months, although the DoH responded pointing out its mobiles were encrypted.

The security channel has found the constant high profile losses of data a sales boon over the last 12 months with those arguing for greater encryption given plenty of ammunition to take out to the market.

Mike Smart, EMEA product marketing manager at Secure Computing, said that high profile cases of data loss did have a positive impact on the channel.

“It has been good for business from a channel perspective because a lot of people don’t even consider it so when they are reading about it more and more it changes customer behaviour,” he said.

Phil Bridge, managing director at Kroll Ontrack, added that the data leaks could have serious ramifications.

"Human error continues to compound the Government’s data loss issues. It is clear that data protection technology is moving faster than human procedure. For years, data protection has been about more than simply safeguarding valuable information from competitors. The rise in terrorism and identity theft has rendered it a matter of national security," he said.

He added that the problem had always been there but the industry was able to solve it for customers.

In a statement, Shapps said that the government seemed to be “incapable of keeping our data secure”.