Another data loss for government

Highly confidential CD found in eBay auction laptop

29 February 2008 16:02 GMT / By Katie Scott

Tabloid newsdesks across the country are getting ready to have yet another pop at the Civil Service after a third embarrassing security leak.

A highly confidential Home Office disk has been found hidden in a laptop computer, which sold on eBay.

The Beeb is reporting that the CD was found between the keyboard and circuit board of the laptop by computer repair technicians in the Leapfrog Computers shop near Bolton.

The machine was taken into the shop by a punter who had brought it in good faith in an eBay auction.

However, the machine has now been confiscated by anti-terrorist officers after the techies at the shop found the disk.

The Home Office said investigations were under way into the incident.

A spokesman said: "Both the laptop and the disk were encrypted, thus safeguarding any information that might be stored on them". (Well that's OK then!)

"Investigations are now under way. It would be inappropriate to comment further while they are ongoing."