Another laptop goes AWOL

27 Mar 2007 | 15:52 BST

By Andrew Thomas

A LAPTOP with details of 11,000 children aged between eight months and eight years has been stolen from a Nottingham hospital. The laptop was one of three taken from an office at King's Mill Hospital in Sutton-in-Ashfield last week. Nottinghamshire Primary Care Trust (PCT) has now informed the families affected and police have launched an investigation.

The laptop contains the names, addresses and dates of birth of children from the Newark, Mansfield and Ashfield areas. The PCT said the matter was being taken "extremely seriously" and reassured the public that the theft was being fully investigated and that steps were being taken to prevent it happening again.

Jamie Cowper, Marketing Manager at data encryption firm PGP added:
"Once again, a laptop containing sensitive information has been stolen from inside a trusted public institution. The fact that this time the information in question relates to young children is a stark illustration that it's not just fraud and identity theft we need to worry about - when any kind of personal data falls into the wrong hands, it's susceptible to exploitation.

"Organisations have to understand that storing confidential information on portable devices such as laptops brings serious responsibilities. By their very nature, laptops are a lot easier to steal than desktop computers. Passwords aren't enough - organisations have to deploy comprehensive encryption policies across all [their] devices."µ

L'Inq
BBC Nottingham

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