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Dangerous information

Did you celebrate European Data Protection Day this year? Two London boroughs might have been forgiven for feeling it was not a cause for celebration. As the result of a stolen laptop, they were fined £80,000 and £70,000 for a breach of the Data Protection Act.

Both councils had a policy that laptops should be not only password protected but encrypted. This laptop had been issued unencrypted. Ealing Council, which issued the laptop, was hit with the higher fine since it was their officer who had lost it.

However, Hounslow, which was using Ealing’s services, also received a fine for not having a contract that specified the secure use of data and for not checking up.

Far too many schools and colleges in this respect are a disaster waiting to happen. There must be clear policies about the use of personal data on laptops – for example that no personal data should be downloaded to laptops – and these need to be policed and enforced

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