Scottish ministers warned over data losses

We know that councils, the police and the NHS have had their high profile security breach problems over the last few years, with the Information Commissioner’s Office constantly tutting (although not yet using its recently granted powers to financially penalise).

Yet the problem may be even more widespread than was previously thought, details unearthed by a freedom of information request from the Lib Dems has revealed.

The BBC reports that Scottish ministers have actually been warned to “get a grip” when it comes to data security, with the amount of public sector technology and info which is going missing, according to the Lib Dems findings.

These include the ever-present and eminently losable USB sticks, alongside the likes of laptops, tablets and smartphones, all carrying details of patients, police investigations and other sensitive details.

According to the BBC article, the Lib Dems claim that in the first half of 2010, seven NHS areas have logged a variety of missing pieces of equipment, which contained details such as patients’ medical records.

That’s perhaps no surprise when you consider that the NHS was named the worst offender in the UK when it came to data breaches, when the ICO announced that it had received over 1,000 notifications of serious security leaks back in May of this year.

The NHS losses the Lib Dems uncovered included the Greater Glasgow NHS board reporting the theft of eight laptops, three computers and six hard disks. NHS Ayrshire and Arran indicated five laptops had been stolen.

Other organisations named included police in Strathclyde, who had lost a USB stick containing files relating to an investigation, and Aberdeenshire council who reported two school laptops being pinched, as well as several mobile phones.

A Scottish government spokesman told the BBC that it took data protection “very seriously”, but then added: “We expect the same high standards of public sector bodies. However, it remains the responsibility of individual police forces, local authorities and health boards to ensure that personal or sensitive information is stored securely.”