MoD 'mislays' 340 laptops

MINISTRY of Defence staff lost or had stolen 340 laptops worth more than £600,000 in the past two years, figures have revealed.

By The Newsroom

Published 22nd Jul 2010, 13:18 BST

Updated 22nd Jul 2010, 23:16 BST

A total of 593 CDs, DVDs and floppy disks, 215 USB memory sticks, 96 removable hard disk drives and 13 mobile phones have also gone missing from the department since the release of a scathing report into MoD data losses.

Only one in five of the devices that disappeared was encrypted, leading security experts to criticise a "cavalier attitude" to the protection of data.

The MoD had the worst record of 11 government departments surveyed in Freedom of Information requests.