The UK Government Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) continues to be firm with public sector organisations that have had data losses.

This week, a Council in central England has agreed to comply with data protection principles, and signed an undertaking to assure the ICO that personal data will be kept securely in future.  A council employee lost an unencrypted memory stick which contained highly sensitive personal information on four families.

As part of the commitment, the council has agreed to ensure that portable and mobile devices, including laptops, USB flash drives etc are encrypted.  Staff will also be trained and made aware of policies for storage and use of personal information.

It’s good to see that these measures are being taken over losses of personal data, even when the actual volume of lost data is small.  Let’s hope that other countries take an equally firm stance on this issue.