Across government, departments are losing more than 200 computers a year, many holding sensitive information

MoD admits it has no idea what was on 400 stolen laptops
By Brian Brady and Andrew Johnson, Published: 20 January 2008

The Ministry of Defence admitted yesterday that it was urgently checking the information thought to be held on more than 400 laptops stolen from the department in the past five years, including at least 68 stolen in 2007 alone.
The admission came after revelations that a laptop containing personal details – including passport numbers, bank details and national insurance numbers – of more than 600,000 people who had expressed an interest in enlisting had been stolen from the car of a naval officer in Birmingham.

It is the latest in a string of losses by both the Government and private companies including more than 25 million names lost on two disks by Revenue & Customs officers.
Official figures revealed through parliamentary answers show that in the last year all government departments reported at least 208 laptops, and a number of PCs, stolen. By far the worst culprit is the MoD. Since 2003 it has reported 420 laptops stolen. An MoD spokesman yesterday said he could not say whether the laptops contained sensitive information or not.
"This has to be seen in the context of a department which employs 300,000 people," he said. "It is unacceptable to lose that many which is why procedures and under review all the time. In the light of this latest loss we are searching every record of missing laptops to find out exactly what's going on."
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article3353778.ece