Government departments have failed to tighten data handling rules despite losing 30 million personal files in two years, it has been disclosed.

Government failed to clamp down on data loss
article in the Telegraph

Extract:

"Staff are still able to copy unencrypted information from internal databases on to USB sticks, the portable memory devices that have been involved in many of the recent high-profile security breaches.

The health and transport departments – as well as the Driving and Vehicle Licensing Agency – have failed to make encryption mandatory despite the recommendations of a Cabinet Office report last year.

The Department for Children, Schools and Families and the Ministry of Justice are among the major departments that allow the copying of data of encrypted data onto memory sticks, but it is not clear whether the encryption is actively enforced."