Written question asked by Jo Swinson (Liberal Democrat) on Friday, 6 October 2006, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 10 October 2006. It was answered by Derek Twigg (Labour) on Tuesday, 7 November 2006 on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.

Databases (Security Breaches)

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many confirmed security breaches of databases controlled by his Department occurred in each of the last five years; whether the breach resulted from internal or external sources in each case; how many records were compromised on each occasion; and what estimate was made of the total number of records accessible to the individuals concerned.

Answer: The MOD is only aware of one security breach in the last five years which potentially resulted in compromise of a classified database containing the Ministry of Defence personal data. The breach involved the theft from a hotel of an Army laptop holding a password protected database of Service personnel and next of kin details associated with Operation FRESCO, the MOD Military Assistance to Civil Authorities operation conducted during the 2002 fire services strike. The database contained the names and military details of Service personnel. I emphasise that the data was password protected and we have no evidence that it was actually compromised.

Secondary information