Thousands of mobile phones and laptops worth an estimated £1m have been lost by HMRC staff over the past three years.
The figures for last year show that tax office staff who work from home lost around 10 mobile phones and two laptops every week of the year.
Meanwhile, over the past three years there were 1,670 mobile phones recorded as having been lost and 334 laptops that had disappeared.
As well as this, there were 10 USB computer memory devices recorded as being lost.
New figures show the amount of laptops marked as lost
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The Telegraph reports that, if the average cost of replacement is estimated at around £500 then the cost of the lost phones and laptops is £1m, while the bill to replace the stolen electronic equipment is another £330,000.
However, the bill could be even higher now as many phones cost more than £800 and laptops often cost more than £1,000 to buy new.
As well as cost being a concern, there are also complications surrounding security.
Officials at HMRC said that all equipment is locked with a codeword and that it can be wiped clear of data remotely.
HMRC said that devices can be shut down remotely
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Officials from HMRC said the figures on lost items may be inflated as some equipment might later be found and technology that goes missing when employees leave is often returned later.
Cyber security expert Graham Cluley told The Telegraph: “If HMRC has followed sensible security practices, in other words, protecting laptops with full-disk encryption (and a strong, hard-to-crack, unique password), and locking down smartphones with strong passcodes/passphrases, then there shouldn’t be too much to worry about from the data breach point of view.
“As ever it’s important that users lock their computing devices when they are not using them, or set them to automatically lock themselves if accidentally left unattended.
“It’s good to hear that HMRC, like other responsible organisations, has the facility to wipe mislaid devices remotely, as clearly the data on laptops and smartphones can be much more valuable than the devices themselves.”
An HMRC spokesman said: “Security and privacy are at the heart of our work as we deal with tens of millions of customers every year.
“We take quick action to deactivate any lost or stolen devices and investigate all security incidents, taking steps to reduce future recurrences.”
Source Agencies
