Children details on lost USB stick

12 April 2012

A council has launched an investigation after the private details of thousands of children were found on a memory stick.

A USB stick dropped by a Leeds City Council employee was found in a car by a member of the public. It had been reported missing but its owner told the council it did not contain any sensitive information.

In fact the unencrypted data on the device included the names, dates of birth, ethnicity, addresses and telephone numbers of around 5,000 nursery-age children living in the Leeds area.

It also contained confidential information about child protection and whether or not the children's parents claimed state benefits.

A Leeds City Council spokeswoman said: "We take issues of information security very seriously and are very sorry that this breach has occurred. We have guidance in place which seeks to prevent such incidents occurring including advice on using memory sticks.

"The loss was immediately reported by the employee concerned to their line manager and inquiries were made to recover it. Regrettably it could not be located. At the time, it was understood that no sensitive or confidential data was on this stick, so no further action was taken. Unfortunately, once recovered, it became apparent the memory stick did have sensitive information on it that should not have been there.

"As soon as we were made aware of the content, a full investigation into the circumstances of this case was launched and an immediate reminder to all staff is being issued regarding the security of personal and sensitive information. We are grateful to the member of the public who found and returned the memory stick."

The stick was reportedly found by an unnamed Leeds resident while cleaning a second-hand car bought from a taxi driver.

It was returned to West Yorkshire Police and then to the council, but he said he was worried about who could have seen the information before him.

"It's information that should not be on a memory stick," he told the York Evening Post.

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