Encrypted staff data disc lost

Sometimes I feel, we unnecessarily over-dramatize things. Recently, a computer data disk containing personal details of around a couple of thousand members of British Council staff was lost. Instead of discussing controls for preventing such electronic media lost or theft, we start worrying about the data which were encrypted using a proprietary algorithm.

it is not an ordinary CD-ROM or DVD, but an optical disk that can only be read by a particular type of reader with a specific version of specialist software. This software is no longer manufactured and cannot be purchased. These precautions ensure that the data is extremely secure in the unlikely event that the disk should fall into the wrong hands.