Does This Actually Surprise Anyone Anymore.....

jrodga2k5

jrodga2k5

jrodga2k5

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7662604.stm


MoD computer hard drive missing


An investigation is under way into the disappearance of a computer hard drive containing the personal details of about 100,000 of the Armed Forces.

The information was being held by EDS, which is the Ministry of Defence's main IT contractor.

The MoD said the portable hard drive went missing on Wednesday during a priority audit carried out by EDS.

It is thought to contain more than 1.5m pieces of information, including the details of 600,000 potential recruits.

The BBC's Andy Moore said the incident was one of the most serious data losses for the MoD.

There is also said to be a small amount of information about bank details. It contains details of passport numbers, addresses, dates of birth, driving licence details and telephone numbers.

MoD police are investigating the drive's whereabouts, but it is not yet known whether or not it was stolen. It is understood the drive was not encrypted.

The missing drive is the latest information security breach to hit the MoD.

In July officials revealed 658 MoD laptops had been stolen over the past four years and 26 portable memory sticks containing classified information had been either stolen or misplaced since January
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I mean seriously you would think the MoD would have a much tighter hold on what would be highly confidential information, its actually worrying how much has been "stolen" from them over the last few years.
 
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Nope. Not very surprising anymore. Still very worrying though.
Exactly why a national id card is a terrible terrible idea. Would only be a matter of time until the government loses the data of 30 million brits etc.
 
jrodga2k5 said:
Depends who's hands its fallen into surely.....i'm sure it can be un-encrypted should they know what their doing
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Chances are it's been mislaid, not stolen by some terrorist cell. Chances are the person who picks it up won't even know what's on it.

Besides, EDS lost it, not MoD. Surely you'd blame the bus driver for crashing the bus, not the company who's bus it is?
 
MoNkeE said:
Besides, EDS lost it, not MoD. Surely you'd blame the bus driver for crashing the bus, not the company who's bus it is?
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^^. Also, seems that the media has loved these stories for the past few months. I'm sure it's been going on for decades with every company everywhere, but only now is it being reported every week due to the TERIST THRET!!11
 
mp3kla said:
OP's Quote says.

"It is understood the drive was not encrypted."
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That is the scary thing really, given how easy it is to use even the most basic cryptograpghic programs. I would have also thought that any military contractor would be required to use a military style access control, where no information would ever be stored or allowed to be stored on an insecure hard drive outside of the servers.

But the story itself is sensationalist and blames the MoD rather than the EDS which is just plain silly. In all likleyhood the drive is sat on a dusty shelf somewhere in their office rather than just gone, I would be worried if you could just walk out with a hard drive from a place like that, though it wouldnt surprise me nowdays, security of data is like an afterthought for most companies.
 
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