Department of Health beats MoD for device losses
Published: 26 Nov 2008 11:20 GMT
Parliamentary written answers have revealed a mixed picture of Whitehall's ability to stop the loss or theft of IT equipment.
Figures from the Ministry of Defence show that, so far this year, 59 memory sticks have gone missing and six have been stolen. The loss of laptops is up from a low of 18 in 2005 to 62 this year. The ministry has faired better in terms of theft, with 58 laptops reported stolen, against a peak of 272 in 2004.
The number of hard drives lost peaked at 72 this year, up from eight last year, but only two were stolen.
Commenting on the figures, defence minister Kevan Jones said: "We take any loss of media storage devices very seriously. We have put in place revised, robust procedures."
"New processes, instructions and technological aids are also being implemented to mitigate human errors and raise the awareness of every individual in the department," Jones said.
At the Department of Health, the loss or theft of IT equipment appears to be falling.
The department's latest figures, for 2007-08, show that 14 laptops were lost or stolen, against a peak of 35 in 2001-02; for mobile phones the figure was 21, against a peak of 43 in 2000-01; and, for other IT equipment, including memory sticks, there were no losses, against a peak of 38 in 1997-98.
Total losses or thefts of IT equipment from the Department of Health reached a high of 102 items in 2000-01 but, in 2007-08, fell to just 35.
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A health department spokesperson told GC News: "All our laptops are marked with forensic dye and explicitly labelled to warn potential thieves and aid recovery if they are stolen."
"We also provide physical security devices, such as cables which anchor laptops to furniture and prevent removal. We provide guidance to staff on how to prevent equipment theft at work, home and during travel, including annual security awareness events in all our offices," the spokesperson said.
"All data on our laptops is encrypted — even if the hard drives were removed, someone would not be able to access the data. All losses and thefts are thoroughly investigated and there are strict disciplinary processes in place to deal with all breaches," the spokesperson added.
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