Manchester Police lose Anti-Terror Secrets

When I last wore uniform (a couple of decades ago now) there were very strict procedures for the control of classified documents and publications.  They were signed in and signed out in a controlled register, amendments/additions etc were recorded by signature, and at the end of their life they were shredded and destroyed by fire, with two people present and accountable.  I am not aware how these rules and procedures have been amended to cover digital data, but my feeling is that they will have been watered down.  It must be a nightmare to effectively control sensitive and secret information these days!

I find it astounding that memory sticks with such data on them (particularly ones with logos on them) are not encrypted.  Okay so this one was lost, but one also wonders what controls there are in place to stop someone taking the stick home and downloading the data.............that way there would be not even be knowledge of a security breach.

With regard to data privacy concerns, I also touched on these in my recent blog on biometrics at ATMs.  When government departments carelessly lose private data, even if the Information Commissioner does decide to remonstrate, I wonder what punitive or corrective action he is actually able to take to address such breaches and to make the public Bodies concerned tighten up their controls?