Daily Mail 10th October 2008
At risk: Private contractor EDS lost a hard disc containing names and details
Personal details of up to1.6million armed forces personnel have been lost in one of the worst data fiascos to hit the government.
The sensitive files were contained on a disk hard-drive which was lost by EDS, a private contractor used by the Ministry of Defence.
The same American firm was heavily criticised over this summer’s Sats crisis - leaving hundreds of thousands of pupils in limbo as they waited for their late exam results.
In this latest blunder, names and private details of around 100,000 serving personnel — half the regular armed forces - are believed to have been on the lost drive which was not encrypted.
It may also contain some of their bank details.
Just last month EDS was under fire for losing the details of an estimated 5,000 prison officers and admin staff, also contained on a computer hard drive.
The lost files are also reported to contain next-of-kin details, the names and addresses of 600,000 potential recruits to the army and the names of their referees.
Passport numbers, addresses dates of birth, and driving licence details for family doctors and dentists were said to be on the drive, leaving thousands of people open to identity fraud.
The latest bungle is the worst security breach for the Ministry of Defence, and the second worst for the government since last year’s fiasco when the Inland Revenue lost the details of 25 million people.
The hard drive was discovered missing on Wednesday from the firm’s headquarters in Hook, Hampshire, where it was used to test the MoD’s computer equipment.
EDS’s contracts with the MoD are now believed to be under review.
An MoD spokeswoman last night confirmed the loss. She said: ‘On Wednesday 8th October we were informed by our contractor EDS that they were unable to account for a portable hard drive used in connection with the administration of Armed Forces personnel data.
‘This came to light during a priority audit EDS are conducting to comply with the Cabinet Office data handling review.
'The MoD Police are investigating this matter with EDS.’
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