Ministry of Defence - 10 October '08
Significant data breach of 600,000 potential services recruits including passport details and bank account data.
A brief summary of the data loss is shown below:
Ministry of Defence
10 October 2008
Expressed interest in joining Armed Forces
Personal identifiers, passport details, National Insurance numbers, family details, medical records, together with the bank records of at least 3,500 people.
Routine security audit throws up major data breach following the theft of a laptop.
Discovered following a ‘priority audit' required by new data security guidelines issued by the Cabinet Office, the Ministry of Defence has reported the
theft of a laptop in the Edgbaston, Birmingham.
An MoD spokesperson said, “The Ministry of Defence is treating the loss of this data with the utmost seriousness. We are writing to some 3,500 people whose bank details were included on the database. Action has already been taken with the assistance of APACS (the Association for Payment Clearing Services) to inform the relevant banks so that the relevant accounts can be flagged for scrutiny against unauthorised access.”
The security services were involved in the investigative aftermath following fears that the data may well enable terrorists to identify the identities of Muslim applicants.
The data was not believed to be encrypted.