Tech Shout!

A laptop sold by popular online shopping site e-bay, apparently contained an optical disc holding confidential information of Home Office, UK government’s department that handles law and security matters. The Greater Manchester Police is currently investigating the issue.

Reportedly, the disc was found by technicians when the laptop was taken to Leapfrog Computer, an IT repair company for service. The engineer found the disc marked “Home Office Confidential”, which was hidden beneath the keyboard of the laptop.

It is said that the laptop was bought from e-bay and given for repair work on Tuesday morning.

Lee Bevan, the managing director of LeapFrog Computers, said, “This seemed like just another IT repair … the customer said he had bought it on eBay and seemed quite innocent. It was just an ordinary laptop and it was only when we opened up the keyboard that we found the disc - it had the words Home Office and Confidential written on it.”

“The disc appeared to be hidden deliberately underneath the keyboard. We put the disc in the drive to see what it was, but it was encrypted. As soon as I saw it belonged to the Home Office I placed it in the company safe and called the police. Luckily, it has ended up in the right hands. The police were here most of the day examining the laptop and the disc,” Bevan added.

On the other hand, the Home Office spokesman said that both the CD as well as the laptop were encrypted, which means that both belong to the governments’ law and security department.

However, the police has not confirmed it and is said to be investigating on the issue. A spokeswoman for Greater Manchester police said, “A laptop has been recovered. Inquiries are continuing.”

However, in the whole issue, the main question that still remains unanswered is that how on earth did the Home Office laptop and the disc containing crucial information go missing? Thankfully due to the encryption of the data, confidential matters were not leaked.