Defence Secretary Des Brown will also speak in the Commons next week about the latest loss of personal data, which went missing when a laptop was stolen.

The data includes passport and National Insurance numbers and bank details.

They relate to people who had Reporters hold Sri Lanka minister ...
Dow Jones chief announces exit ... expressed an interest in, or joined, the Royal Navy, Royal Marines and the RAF.

Information Commissioner Richard Thomas said the MoD laptop incident was "a stark illustration of the potency of personal information in a database world".

"We will require satisfactory answers from the MoD about their data protection practices and a firm assurance that steps have been taken to improve these practices before deciding on the appropriate action to take," he said.

Separately, hundreds of documents containing sensitive personal data have been found dumped on a roundabout in Devon.

Details of benefit claims, passport photocopies and mortgage payments were included in the confidential data found near Exeter Airport.

Last November, it emerged that 25m child benefit records had been lost after HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) sent two unregistered and unencrypted discs to the National Audit Office.

The MoD said it was treating this latest theft with the "utmost seriousness".

The police said they received a report that the laptop had been stolen from a car parked in Edgbaston, Birmingham, on 9 January.

"The information held is not the same for every individual," the MoD said.

"In some cases, for casual enquiries, the record is no more than a name.

"But for those who progressed as far as submitting an application to join the Forces, extensive personal data may be held, including passport details, National Insurance numbers, drivers' licence details, family details, doctors' addresses and National Health Service numbers."

The MoD said it was writing to 3,500 people whose bank details were on the laptop's database.

It said it was working with the Association for Payment Clearing Services to inform the relevant banks and ensure that accounts affected are "flagged for scrutiny against unauthorised access".

Simon Davies, from pressure group Privacy International, told BBC News 24 he was "flabbergasted".

"I cannot believe that our flagship security agency cannot get this right," Mr Davies said.

"The idea that someone could have the computer with the information unencrypted - it is on a par with the HMRC loss."

Shadow defence secretary Liam Fox told BBC News 24: "It's just been too easy for data to go missing recently and we need to look at how to protect the details of the public."

He said he had spoken to Defence Secretary Des Browne and agreed that the matter would be discussed in the House of Commons next week.

Nick Harvey, Lib Dem defence spokesman, said the incident was further proof of the dangers of a national ID card system.

"If anybody is entertaining lingering support for the idea... surely this would worry anybody into realising that you cannot trust any system you invent to store this much data in one place," Mr Harvey said.

Douglas Young, of the British Armed Forces Federation, said: "It really is very, very worrying and I'm deeply concerned to hear this.

"There must be a top level investigation."

More information and advice can be obtained by emailing recruitdata@check.mod.uk from 1000GMT on Saturday 19 January.

Anyone with information should contact West Midlands Police on 0845 113 5000.

(BBC)

<< Back