Fergie's Tech Blog

UK: Stolen Government Laptop Contains Staff Payroll Data of 10,000

Tash Shifrin writes on ComputerWorld:

A laptop computer holding personal and financial information on 10,000 U.K. National Health Service staffers has been stolen from a hospital in Cornwall.

The machine containing payroll data -- including names, addresses and bank details -- was stolen from the Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust, which hosts the payroll for NHS staff across the county. It was stolen from locked and alarmed premises in Truro, which were forcibly entered during the night on April 30 or in the early hours of May 1.

A trust spokeswoman said the laptop was password-protected, but she was unable to say whether any other security measures were in place. Security experts warned that relying on password protection and locking laptops away was "not enough" to protect sensitive data.

The spokeswoman said the data was usually held on a server but had been downloaded to the laptop for "a specific piece of work." She added, "From time to time, information is downloaded to enable specific pieces of analysis to be done."

No patient information was stored on the computer, she said.

posted by Fergie @ 5/03/2007 10:27:00 AM