According to an old report by the BBC a laptop computer belonging to a Royal Navy officer was stolen from car in Edgbaston, Birmingham.

It contained the personal details of 600,000 people who had expressed an interest in, or applied to join, the Royal Navy, Royal Marines and the RAF.

It contained data including passport numbers, National Insurance numbers and bank details. Perfect for a criminal to create thousands of fraudulent identities!

The, then Defence Secretary Des Browne later admitted, the inquiry into the loss of the Royal Navy officer’s laptop uncovered two similar thefts since 2005.

At the time, Dr Liam Fox, shadow defence secretary, said 68 MoD laptops had been stolen in 2007, 66 in 2006, 40 in 2005 and 173 in 2004.

Contact Secure Data Recycling to understand how we can help educate your staff and introduce systems to help manage and keep your data secure.