HMRC staff working from home lose £1 million of mobile phones and laptops – Telegraph report
Staff Reporter
May 21, 2024
Work-from-home HMRC staff have lost £1m of mobile phones and laptop computers equipment reports Matthew Davis for the Telegraph
HMRC staff working from home have lost £1 million worth of laptops and mobiles, according to new data released by the Telegraph.
The figures show that approximately 10 mobile phones and two laptops go missing each week and that. over the past three years, HMRC employees have reported 1,670 missing mobile phones and 334 lost laptops. Additionally, 95 phones and 562 laptops have been recorded as stolen during this period.
Apparently there is no information on the laptops. Data is all held on a central server that is accessed through the laptop. As soon as a laptop is ‘missing’ it is denied access even if passwords and secure key is used.
HMRC: “‘Security and privacy are at the heart of our work as we deal with 10’s of millions of customers every year”
HMCR responded by saying itt takes ‘quick action’ to deactivate any device that has been logged as lost or stolen and investigates all security incidents
A spokesperson stated ‘Security and privacy are at the heart of our work as we deal with 10’s 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.’