British government lost 150 PCs this year

And the Home Office is worst offender

By John Oates • Get more from this author

Posted in IT Channel, 12th July 2005 14:56 GMT

The Home Office might be in charge of law and order but it's not very good at keeping hold of its own property - it has lost more computers this year than any other department.

Between January and June 2005 the Home Office lost 95 machines - equivalent to a theft almost every other working day. The Ministry of Defence, which has a fine reputation for leaving laptops in wine bars, taxis and even on rubbish dumps, has sharpened up its act and has only lost 23 computers this year. Not a great result but better than the 153 that were lost or stolen last year.

The figures came to light in written answers to questions from Liberal Democrat MP Paul Burstow.p>

Peter Jaco, CEO of encryption company BeCrypt, said that although the numbers look alarming they are probably similar in percentage terms to any large organisation.

Jaco said: "The UK Government, unlike UK industry, also has policies in place to protect national data assets with encryption products...If the Government departments that have lost these laptops have followed recommended policies... all data on the machine would be protected as it would be encrypted to meet Government security standards."

More details on egovmonitor.com here.®