EDS loses hard drive with prison worker details

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EDS, one of the companies that signed up to supply the national ID card scheme, has lost a hard drive containing the personal details of 5000 prison workers.

Justice secretary Jack Straw has ordered an inquiry about this latest government data loss scandal, which happened last year but which EDS only found about in July. Straw admitted that he was only informed after the loss of the 500GB drive was reported in a letter to the News of the World newspaper.

This breach comes after contractor PA Consulting lost a USB stick holding the details of all 84,000 prisoners in England and Wales.

Like the previous incident, the loss of the data was of serious concern. If the data fell into the wrong hands, it could lead to individuals having to move to protect themselves, which could be costly in terms of compensation.

Straw said the inquiry would ask why he wasn’t informed of the incident as soon as his department found out about the loss of the hard disk, and said his officials were now talking with EDS.

“It’s extremely worrying that the justice minister remained blissfully unaware of the situation; how many more does he not know about?” asked Andrew Clarke, senior vice president at Lumension Security.

Clarke said it was impossible for the government to track the data that had already been leaked, as there had been so many incidents that backtracking would be extremely difficult.

He said that data held by private companies outside the direct vicinity of the government must be as fully protected as possible.

He said: “Once more the Government is facing embarrassment and the peoples’ trust is dwindling further. Protecting sensitive data is not beyond control and the Government needs to ensure these cases cease to exist.”

EDS said in a statement: "We take this matter very seriously and we are working with the Ministry of Justice to confirm the level of risk and provide a detailed analysis of the situation and remedies that should be undertaken."

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