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New data reveals that over the past year, over 2,000 devices belonging to the Government, such as laptops and mobile phones, have gone missing or been stolen.
There have been requests for ministers to initiate an investigation into the disappearance and theft of technology, such as hard drives and external memory devices.
According to written inquiries submitted to various government departments, statistics reveal that the Ministry of Defence had the most incidents of lost devices.
There were 383 devices lost or stolen from the department. The Ministry of Justice had the second highest number of misplaced devices, with 225 laptops and 51 mobile phones missing.
The justice minister, Mike Freer, stated that his department takes all cases of loss and theft seriously and has protocols in place to promptly disable any reported lost or stolen devices.
In February of this year, two Government departments were established and have since encountered numerous instances of device losses and thefts.
The Department of Science, Innovation, and Technology has misplaced 26 cell phones since its establishment, while the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero has lost 76 phones and 14 laptops.
Over the past year, a total of 1,024 mobile phones, 889 laptops, and 119 external hard drives or memory sticks were reported missing from various Government departments.
The government had to spend a minimum of £944,092 to replace the missing devices. However, certain departments declined to disclose the exact amount as it would be too expensive to do so.
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It is the duty of the Government to ensure the security of our data and country. However, it seems that they are not succeeding in either aspect.
Liberal Democrat MP Sarah Olney
Other organizations, such as the Department for Transport, provided estimates for the cost of lost or stolen items.
The Liberal Democrats, who posed the questions to the Government, have urged for an immediate investigation into the number of lost devices, in order to determine if any data security concerns have arisen.
The party’s Treasury spokesperson, Sarah Olney, said: “These devices could contain sensitive information about UK citizens or related to national security – information that could worryingly fall into the wrong hands.
Ministers ought to initiate a formal investigation into the recurring occurrence of this issue and the potential hazards it presents to the general public.
It is the Government’s duty to ensure the security of our data and nation. However, it seems as though they are not fulfilling this responsibility effectively.
In 2021, the Liberal Democrats asked a set of similar questions and found that a total of 4,800 devices, including laptops and mobile phones, were reported stolen or lost between the years 2017 and 2021.
Source: independent.co.uk
