At least one BlackBerry smartphone packed with sensitive information is lost every two weeks by Scottish civil servants, according to new figures.
A total of 44 Scottish government BlackBerrys – many of which were loaded with the contact details of senior ministers and officials – have been lost, stolen or left in pubs, on trains and in restaurants in the last 21 months.
Ministers stressed last night that they took security very seriously and that all smartphones and portable laptops were encrypted to stop them being hacked.
But this assurance appeared to be undermined by the new figures which showed that, as well as the 44 BlackBerrys which have been lost, civil servants have also mislaid five laptops, five ordinary mobile phones, one full desk-top computer and a USB device.
A total of 20 security-cleared ID passes were also lost between January 2010 and October 2011, as well as a camera, a mobile charger and a printer.
The cost to the taxpayer of the stolen equipment is understood to be tens of thousands of pounds, but the potential price in lost information – including the phone numbers of senior ministers and possibly even personal information on members of the public – is likely to be more damaging.
A spokesman for the Scottish government stressed that all Scottish government smartphones and laptops were fitted with security devices designed to prevent them being hacked.
But he was not able to say whether civil servants or ministers had been forced to change their phone numbers or whether anybody outside the Scottish government had manage to access the sensitive information contained in the equipment.
He said: “The Scottish government treats the loss or theft of items from its buildings very seriously and has robust security standards in place. This includes encryption for removable IT devices to prevent unauthorised access to data.”
Civil servants at the Enterprise and Environment Department appear to be most careless, according to the figures, losing 16 BlackBerrys, three laptops, four mobile phones and one desktop computer since January 2010 – far more than any other department.
But of more concern to ministers will be the loss of the five BlackBerrys from members of the ministerial private office team which are likely to have had the most sensitive contact details on them.
Civil servants in the ministerial private office also lost a camera and three important ID tokens in 2010–11.
“Anyone can lose a scarf on a train; anyone can lose a pet," said Jackson Carlaw, deputy leader of the Scottish Conservatives. “But for the Scottish government to routinely mislay expensive equipment stuffed with important and sometimes confidential information and to do so in such a cavalier fashion year on year, really is cause for concern.”
For Labour, Siobhan McMahon MSP, said: “It is very concerning that the Scottish government has managed to lose so many BlackBerrys, laptops and other devices in such a short period of time. We cannot afford this kind of slipshod attitude as belts are being tightened across the board. I am sure we can all think of better ways to spend the tens of thousands of pounds of public money that has been wasted."
And she added: "More worrying still are the security implications. If minsters' phone numbers, addresses and other personal details were on these BlackBerrys then there is a real risk these details fall into the wrong hands. We need assurances from ministers that they will get a grip of this and ensure that it does not happen again.”
Nick Pickles, director of civil liberties group Big Brother Watch, said: “This research once again highlights the serious risk to people’s privacy by absent-minded officials. In providing services to the most vulnerable in society, government needs to recognise that carelessness is simply unacceptable when dealing with our sensitive information.”
Last month it emerged that a Scottish council was among the top 10 in the UK for losing sensitive and confidential information, including details of children in care.
Throughout Britain, 132 councils admitted to 1,035 separate incidents of data being lost or stolen over the past three years. Renfrewshire Council, which includes Paisley, came sixth in the UK, with 41 incidents involving stolen or lost computers, mobile phones, Blackberrys and memory sticks.
Freedom of information statistics: Equipment lost in 2010 and 2011 by the Scottish government (from 11 January 2010 up to and including 14 October 2011). Type and number lost: BlackBerry 44 Laptop 5 Mobile phone 5 ID card 20 PC base unit 1 Printer 1 USB device 1 Mobile charger 1 Camera 1
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