The Stonewood Group left perplexed by loss of 25 million child benefit records

Following Gordon Brown’s recent admission: ‘It is important to recognise that we cannot promise that every single item of information will always be safe because mistakes are made by human beings. Mistakes are made in the transportation, if you like the communication of information.’ and his ‘profound regret’ at the loss of 25 million child benefit records, shocking news has emerged today that a memory stick has gone missing from a council-run nursery in Leicester containing personal details of up to 80 children – including names, addresses, dates of birth and telephone numbers.

Data encryption experts at the Stonewood Group, a leading British designer and manufacturer of encrypted hard drives, already produce encrypted memory sticks that, if used, would prevent this latest data crisis and those bound to happen in the future if the technology is not adopted. Stonewood argue that easy, affordable and 100 per cent effective technology is available to help government organisations stop the growing epidemic of misplaced data dead in its tracks.

Grant Gutteridge, Director at Stonewood referenced a most recent data breach report by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), which stated that date losses have soared to 277 since the HMRC data disk debacle, and most of them have been in the public sector. He is frustrated that the message to protect confidential personal details is still largely not being adopted. The technology, he argues, is available and the data losses avoidable. “Data needs be diligently managed and stored on secure, encrypted devices. Companies and individuals still do not recognize the need to have such technology in place to protect data if it’s mislaid, lost or stolen, until it is too late,”

Stonewood Group are able to provide expert advice and analysis on the subject of data
encryption and/or contribute an opinion on the general topic of data loss. Including:

• Setting up a high quality, easy to use security procedure, strict guidelines that instruct users how to secure their data, strong authentication and strong encryption – this final line of defence ensures that even if the media is lost, the data is still protected.”

About Stonewood: www.Eclypt.com , www.Stonewoodgroup.co.uk

Stonewood Group is an innovative solutions-driven company that manufactures the industry leading FlagStone range of hardware encrypted drives.

Trusted globally by Governments, Law enforcement agencies and the world’s foremost financial and medical corporations, the FlagStone range is widely-recognised as a fit and forget, tamper proof solution for securing data at rest.

FlagStone now evolved into Eclypt, with improved features including Windows Management software, 128 User Accounts and configurable password length and login attempts.

Stonewood also portable devices including a 500GB hardware-encrypted USB drive, Eclypt Freedom, and PICOFreedom, a fully encrypted FIPS140-2 validated USB stick with capacities up to 8GB.

Zara Gibb
Management Supervisor
Peppercom Europe
The Timber Yard
107 Drysdale Street
London N1 6ND
Tel: +44 (0)20 7033 2660
Fax: +44 (0)20 7900 2928
E: zgibb {at} uk.peppercom(.)com
Mobile: 07957 129 339