A good argument can be made not to count this as a breach, but the loss reminds us of the need to encrypt…
A computer disk containing the details of 2,000 members of the British Council has been lost, it has been revealed.
The details reportedly include names, national insurance numbers, salary and bank account details.
It is the latest in a string of cases of official information going astray in recent months.
But the British Council – set up to promote knowledge of British culture and the English language overseas – has said the missing disk was securely encrypted to keep its contents safe if it falls into the wrong hands.
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He explained how it was lost while being transported from the organisation’s payroll data supplier to its human resources department by courier firm TNT in December.
The spokesman added: “The data on the disk was compressed using a proprietary algorithm.
“Furthermore, it is not an ordinary CD-ROM or DVD, but an optical disk that can only be read by a particular type of reader with a specific version of specialist software.
“This software is no longer manufactured and cannot be purchased.
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