London councils have misplaced or had stolen over £1million value of laptops, tablets and telephones, it has been revealed amid mounting considerations over cyber safety. A complete of two,619 units had been recorded as both misplaced or stolen over the previous three years, costing what councils estimate to be £1,078,635.54 of taxpayers’ cash. The stunning figures had been retrieved beneath the Freedom of Information Act by the Parliament Street suppose tank, which analysed knowledge from 22 London councils.
Richmond upon Thames reported probably the most units – making up 13 per cent of all misplaced and stolen tools – with 334 laptops, telephones and tablets value over £160,000. However, a Richmond Council spokesperson stated the figures coated each Richmond and Wandsworth councils as a result of a shared providers association.
“Given our shared services arrangement with Wandsworth Council, our IT estate supports around 4,500 staff across both boroughs. This naturally increases the number of devices in circulation,” they stated.
Southwark and Haringey councils additionally reported excessive numbers of lacking units, whereas Ealing Council reported simply 14 as misplaced or stolen.
Laptops had been the best price to London councils, with 926 misplaced or stolen units costing £655,443.54. Phones represented £274,374 of the full, with tablets making up the remaining £148,818.
The revelations come following a significant knowledge breach towards The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, Westminster City Council and Hammersmith and Fulham Council, which reported “significant disruption” to IT providers in November.
A press release from the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea confirmed: “We have now obtained evidence on our systems that shows some data has been copied and then taken away.”
It stays unclear whether or not that knowledge included private or monetary particulars of residents.
A Hammersmith and Fulham Council spokesperson stated there was presently no proof of their methods being compromised.
Cyber safety consultants warned the excessive volumes of misplaced units posed a critical danger to public knowledge.
Graeme Stewart, head of public sector at Check Point, stated: “Sky-high volumes of lost devices are the perfect Christmas gift to fraudsters and cyber criminals who are always on the lookout for their next target.
“Councils are trusted with managing probably the most confidential knowledge possible, together with residence addresses, cost particulars and private info, and the general public rightly anticipate the very best safety measures to be in place.
“Whilst everyone understands that occasionally phones go missing, it is time for London’s councils to beef up their cyber protocols, increasing encryption and doing more to ensure staff remain vigilant to the risks of losing phones.”
Richmond Council insisted it took safety critically and had measures in place to guard knowledge.
The spokesperson stated: “Richmond Council takes the security of council devices and data very seriously. We work hard to minimise unreturned or lost devices, with clear processes in place to recover assets or apply charges where appropriate.
“All council units are totally encrypted and have remote-wipe functionality, and nearly all of info is saved securely within the cloud.”
They added that the place tools couldn’t be reused, appropriate units had been donated to native charities.
https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/2150192/london-councils-lose-1-million-laptops-phones-cyber-security-fears