After UK Army, Data Loss Hit 100,000 Pensioners As Laptop is Stolen

A laptop containing the details of around 100,000 pensioners was stolen in September 2008 from a personnel of accounting firm Deloitte, who only came forward with it on Friday, a few hours after an Army personnel hard disk drive went unaccounted for.

The notebook, a spokesperson for Deloitte said, is protected by a number of security features (passwords and military-grade encryption), adding that there is a "very, very low" risk of the data being ever accessed.

"We believe that the likelihood of unauthorised access to the data held on this laptop is remote due to the opportunistic nature of the theft and the security controls," Deloitte added.

The accounting firm has already informed the police and all the pensioners affected by the laptop loss have been informed of the measures already in place and the kind of data that it contained - Deloitte has already affirmed that there were no adressesor bank account details.

The company has reiterated its stance about briefing its staff on the necessity to pay close attention to electronic devices in public places to avoid further data loss.

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Deloitte declined to say where the laptop has been stolen to prevent what they call, an opportunist thief from trying to access the data the laptop holds.