The police have launched an inquiry after a Ministry of Defence laptop containing unencrypted details of 600,000 applicants to the armed forces was stolen. According to a report by BBC News, the theft took place in Edgbaston, Birmingham after a junior Royal Navy officer left the laptop in his car overnight on Wednesday 9 January.

"The stolen laptop contained personal information relating to some 600,000 people who have either expressed an interest in, or have joined, the Royal Navy, Royal Marines and the Royal Air Force," reads a statement on the MOD’s website.

The lost information varies considerably in detail, ranging from just names (for those who have made a casual enquiry) to bank, family and passport details. According to the MoD statement, 3,500 people's bank details are at risk.

The MoD defended the delay in announcing the theft by saying: "After consultation with West Midlands Police about the impact on the investigation were the theft to become public knowledge, we did not immediately make public the loss of this data. In view of today's media reports, we have, however, decided that it would now be right to do so."

Details of what to do if you believe your data is at risk is on the MoD website.

Apart from the obvious issue of why a Royal Navy officer thought it was safe to leave a laptop in a car overnight, the theft begs the question why the MoD doesn’t encrypt all sensitive data stored on a laptop by default?

[MoD]

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