Laptop sold on eBay contained with Home Office disc

By Dave Nixon

The Home Office has begun an investigation after a buyer purchased a laptop on eBay that contained a disc with confidential information.

The disc was concealed under the computer’s keyboard, and discovered by a local PC repair firm, Leapfrog Computers in Bolton, when it was submitted for repair. The disc had the words “Home Office” and “Confidential” written on it.

Both the disc and the laptop are understood to have been encrypted.

Philip Wicks of consultancy firm Morse said that whatever the circumstances of this latest data debacle, countless organisations were not taking adequate care when disposing off IT equipment.

“Organisations need to use specialist techniques and tools to make sure they completely wipe hard drives clean before disposing off them or selling them on,” he said. “They should be following best practices such as ISO27001:2005 (formerly BS7799).

“There are third-party organisations that can help, however they must be vetted to ensure they are reputable and not just a broker who is out to make a quick buck, and can’t be bothered to go through the process of thoroughly wiping the equipment.”

The news is an additional embarrassment to the government, following other key data breaches. Last November, HM Revenue & Customs lost two discs containing the details of 25 million child benefit claimants, after a junior employee sent them unregistered through the internal post system.