Posted: Friday, 19 December 2008 @ 18:00
Last week, a laptop and 4 computer hard drives were stolen from the Bar Council’s offices in London. These contained sensitive data on all the barristers practising in England and Wales as well as details of around 1,500 complaints lodged against barristers.
The data stolen included the names, addresses and bank account details of barristers (although not of a type that would enable access to their accounts) and, in respect of complaints, the names and addresses of those complaining, witnesses details and the names of barristers with complaints pending.
The Bar Council says it takes its data protection seriously and that “the data is covered by a high level of protection and cannot be accessed readily.” Still, data loss from computers, particularly laptops, is becoming an increasingly regular event and we advise all businesses to ensure their laptops are password protected and that any sensitive data is securely encripted.
Gary Cousins, Business Lawyer For free advice on this topic please call us on 0845 003 5639.
Blog by Gary Pascual
Gary has been providing legal advice to shareholders, directors and business owners for over 25 years. Specialising in dispute resolution Gary is based in Birmingham with clients throughout the UK and overseas.
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