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The Home Office has launched an investigation into how a disc holding confidential information was discovered hidden inside a laptop bought on the online auction site eBay.
The disc was found by technicians when the computer was taken in to a small IT repair company for a service.
The laptop had been bought on the online auction site eBay and taken to Leapfrog Computer repairs in Westhoughton, near Bolton, Greater Manchester, on Tuesday morning, where an engineer took the notebook apart and found a disc marked Home Office Confidential hidden beneath the keyboard.
Lee Bevan, the managing director of LeapFrog Computers, said: "This seemed like just another IT repair ... the customer said he had bought it on eBay and seemed quite innocent. It was just an ordinary laptop and it was only when we opened up the keyboard that we found the disc - it had the words Home Office and Confidential written on it.
"The disc appeared to be hidden deliberately underneath the keyboard. As soon as I saw it belonged to the Home Office I placed it in the company safe and called the police. Luckily, it has ended up in the right hands. The police were here most of the day examining the laptop and the disc."
A Home Office spokesman last night said the information on the disc was encrypted so it could be read only by someone with an electronic "key" to decode it.
The Home Office would not comment on whether the laptop had been stolen or when it had gone missing. It did not comment on the type of information held on the disc either.
The spokesman said: "We understand that encrypted IT equipment has been handed to Greater Manchester police. Both the laptop and the disc were encrypted, thus safeguarding any information that might be stored on them. Investigations are now under way. It would be inappropriate to comment further while they are ongoing."
A spokeswoman for Greater Manchester police said: "A laptop has been recovered. Inquiries are continuing."
The missing laptop and disc will be a further embarrassment to the government which has had to deal with a number of departments losing confidential information.
The personal details of 25 million child benefit claimants were lost when two compact discs containing bank details and addresses of 9.5 million parents and the names, dates of birth and National Insurance numbers of all 15.5 million children vanished after a junior employee of HM Revenue and Customs put them in the post, unrecorded and unregistered.
That was followed by the loss of thousands of learner drivers' details by a DVLA contractor, and at least 168,000 patients were affected by NHS trusts' loss of data.
By Thair Shaikh
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/feb/28/politics.ebay
Update
A Highly classified disk belonging to Britain's Home Office has been discovered, hidden in a laptop that was sold on eBay.
The CD was found wedged between the keyboard and circuit board of the laptop by computer repair technicians at Leapfrog Computers in the city of Bolton, in northern England. When engineers dismantled the keyboard, they found a CD marked "Home Office - highly confidential", AP reported.
Luckily for the Home Office, the Leapfrog staff called London's Metropolitan Police who sent six anti-terrorist officers to remove the machine, which had been bought at an internet auction site.
A Home Office Disk hidden underneath the keyboard.
A Home Office spokesman said, "Both the laptop and the disk were encrypted, thus safeguarding any information that might be stored on them. Investigations are now under way. It would be inappropriate to comment further while they are ongoing."
The incident follows a number of embarrassing losses of information by government departments in recent months especially when a navy laptop with details of armed forces applicants went missing.
Britain's Home Office is the government department responsible for leading the national effort to protect the public from terrorism, crime and anti-social behavior.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=45181§ionid=351020601
The disc was found by technicians when the computer was taken in to a small IT repair company for a service.
The laptop had been bought on the online auction site eBay and taken to Leapfrog Computer repairs in Westhoughton, near Bolton, Greater Manchester, on Tuesday morning, where an engineer took the notebook apart and found a disc marked Home Office Confidential hidden beneath the keyboard.
Lee Bevan, the managing director of LeapFrog Computers, said: "This seemed like just another IT repair ... the customer said he had bought it on eBay and seemed quite innocent. It was just an ordinary laptop and it was only when we opened up the keyboard that we found the disc - it had the words Home Office and Confidential written on it.
"The disc appeared to be hidden deliberately underneath the keyboard. As soon as I saw it belonged to the Home Office I placed it in the company safe and called the police. Luckily, it has ended up in the right hands. The police were here most of the day examining the laptop and the disc."
A Home Office spokesman last night said the information on the disc was encrypted so it could be read only by someone with an electronic "key" to decode it.
The Home Office would not comment on whether the laptop had been stolen or when it had gone missing. It did not comment on the type of information held on the disc either.
The spokesman said: "We understand that encrypted IT equipment has been handed to Greater Manchester police. Both the laptop and the disc were encrypted, thus safeguarding any information that might be stored on them. Investigations are now under way. It would be inappropriate to comment further while they are ongoing."
A spokeswoman for Greater Manchester police said: "A laptop has been recovered. Inquiries are continuing."
The missing laptop and disc will be a further embarrassment to the government which has had to deal with a number of departments losing confidential information.
The personal details of 25 million child benefit claimants were lost when two compact discs containing bank details and addresses of 9.5 million parents and the names, dates of birth and National Insurance numbers of all 15.5 million children vanished after a junior employee of HM Revenue and Customs put them in the post, unrecorded and unregistered.
That was followed by the loss of thousands of learner drivers' details by a DVLA contractor, and at least 168,000 patients were affected by NHS trusts' loss of data.
By Thair Shaikh
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/feb/28/politics.ebay
Update
A Highly classified disk belonging to Britain's Home Office has been discovered, hidden in a laptop that was sold on eBay.
The CD was found wedged between the keyboard and circuit board of the laptop by computer repair technicians at Leapfrog Computers in the city of Bolton, in northern England. When engineers dismantled the keyboard, they found a CD marked "Home Office - highly confidential", AP reported.
Luckily for the Home Office, the Leapfrog staff called London's Metropolitan Police who sent six anti-terrorist officers to remove the machine, which had been bought at an internet auction site.
A Home Office Disk hidden underneath the keyboard.
A Home Office spokesman said, "Both the laptop and the disk were encrypted, thus safeguarding any information that might be stored on them. Investigations are now under way. It would be inappropriate to comment further while they are ongoing."
The incident follows a number of embarrassing losses of information by government departments in recent months especially when a navy laptop with details of armed forces applicants went missing.
Britain's Home Office is the government department responsible for leading the national effort to protect the public from terrorism, crime and anti-social behavior.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=45181§ionid=351020601
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