The personal details of 600,000 people interested in joining the Armed Forces have been lost after a laptop belonging to a Royal Navy officer was stolen, the Ministry of Defence has said.
- Your view: Why is the government so careless with our personal data?
- Timeline: Government data breaches
The latest data loss incident involving a Government department is potentially the most serious as recruits to the Armed Forces are targets for terrorists.
The laptop was stolen from a vehicle parked overnight in the Edgbaston area of Birmingham a week ago but the theft was only made public late last night.
Des Browne, the Defence Secretary, is expected to appear before MPs next week to explain the theft. It follows the loss of 25 million child benefit records and the details of three million learner drivers in the past few months.
Mr Browne is likely to face calls to resign if it emerges that the MoD did not routinely encrypt data held on laptops or if the department's security procedures are found to be lacking.
The Ministry of Defence said that the laptop contained information on 600,000 people who expressed an interest in joining the Royal Navy, Royal Marines and Royal Air Force.
For those who submitted an application, "extensive personal data" - including passport details, National Insurance numbers, family details and medical records - have been lost. The laptop also contained bank records of at least 3,500 people.
It puts them at risk not only of identity theft, but at a significant security risk.
The laptop is said to have been stolen from a car on the night of Jan 9.
The MoD said last night: "After consultation with West Midlands Police about the impact on the investigation, were the theft to become public knowledge, we did not immediately make public the loss of this data.
"The Ministry of Defence is treating the loss of this data with the utmost seriousness. We are writing to some 3,500 people whose bank details were included on the database.
"Action has already been taken with the assistance of APACS (the Association for Payment Clearing Services) to inform the relevant banks so that the relevant accounts can be flagged for scrutiny against unauthorised access."
Simon Davis from the privacy watchdog Privacy International said: "'I'm flabbergasted. I cannot believe that our flagship security unit the MOD cannot get the handling of information right.
"To think that somebody would have a laptop containing unencrypted information rivals the HMRC data breech.
"The problem is that there are so many procedures in place to protect information that nobody knows which one’s in place. Junior officials can’t remember them and nobody knows what’s happening.
"We need to slim-down the amount of procedures in place to protect information."
The Government also admitted last night, that hundreds of highly personal state benefit documents had been found scattered near a roundabout in Exeter, Devon.
The papers included details of people's home loans and mortgage interest, details of National Insurance numbers, addresses and dates of birth.
It is the second time in the past few months that such information has been dumped at the same location.
Chris Grayling, the shadow work and pensions secretary, said: "This is just utter incompetence from the Government. You would have thought that after the child benefits fiasco they would have treble checked the security of all personal data in all Government departments. Ministers have clearly been both irresponsible and negligent."
• Anyone concerned that their personal data may have been on the stolen laptop can email recruitdata@check.mod.uk from 10am today. The Government is in the process of establishing a helpline for individuals to seek further advice.
