Glasgow City Council fined £150,000 over laptop loss

The Information Commissioner's Office has slapped Glasgow City Council with a £150,000 after the loss of two unencrypted laptops.
In addition, the ICO found that a further 74 unencrypted devices were missing, with six of these believed to have been stolen.
One of the devices is understood to have contained personal information of over 20,000 people, including bank details of 6,069 of these individuals.
The fine is the latest for Glasgow City Council, which was served an enforcement notice three years ago following the loss of a memory stick, which also contained personal data of individuals.
It is claimed that the council employees who used the devices had requested them to be encrypted, however, this had not been the case.
Following the ban, the council stressed it had enforced immediate changes in order to ensure that similar incidents would not happen in the future.
Stephen Midgely, Absolute Software's global VP of marketing, stressed the dangers of data loss and the need for security.
“We live in an increasingly mobile age, where large amounts of sensitive data are stored on digital devices. The fact that these laptops were unencrypted is simply unacceptable.
"When sensitive data is stolen, it is vital to have the means to take control over the loss as quickly as possible. This means being able to track and lock the devices, ensuring that the criminals are not able to access the data. Businesses and government bodies need to take responsibility and invest in the appropriate security measures," continued Midgely.

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