In November last year, the Department of Work and Pensions disclosed that they had lost computer media containing the details of millions of people who were entitled to child benefit whilst it was in the process of being sent to the National Audit Office. Worse still, those details included personal bank identifiers on claimants. Despite investigations, at the time of writing this material had not been recovered and nobody knew where it was, or who has access to it. Worse, it was reported that the data was not encrypted. Well, mishaps occur, but in terms of information security, questions arise on precedent and procedure. As this was discussed in answer to a parliamentary question, the matter quickly became public knowledge, became the focus of media attention and left many families with cause for concern regarding the vulnerability of their financial assets. But is this the first time this has happened? Just by looking back six months to April 2007, in reported worldwide incidents we can see that data loss and disclosure from government departments and large organisations is not something new. Look at these:

April 2007

• USA - Bank of America