A newspaper revealed that the UK government lost personal records of 5,000 prison staff

Another urgent Government inquiry is underway following the latest data loss incident in which, Justice Secretary Jack Straw admitted being tipped off by the News of the World.

A 500GB data disk, containing personal records of 5,000 prison staff, has been missing for more than a year.

Andrew Clarke, senior vice president, International, Lumension Security called it a ‘sorry state of affairs’ when newspapers are informing the Government of their data loss.

He said: ‘More attention needs to be given to the transportation methods of data and its security. It’s extremely worrying that the Justice Minister remained blissfully unaware of this latest situation; how many more does he not know about?’

‘Protecting data is not just about encrypting the data on the stick it is about controlling who can gain access to it and why they need it.’

‘The only way to prevent data loss from removable devices is to take control of inbound and outbound data from all endpoints, and encrypt all data during transmission.”