Council has lost hundreds of computers

Senior reporter

Monday 3 September 2012

A DAMNING report ordered after two laptops containing thousands of bank details were stolen has found IT theft at Scotland's largest council was "well organised, systematic and on a significant scale".

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Gerry Braiden

A trawl of Glasgow City Council's IT assets has found hundreds of laptops and PCs unaccounted for and almost another 100 items reported missing in the wake of May's theft.

The laptops stolen from a third-floor office in the City Chambers contained about 17,000 bank details – including major businesses and individuals. The latest report shows that "no part of the council's desktop PC estate is encrypted".

In all, 256 unsecured laptops and 487 desktop PCs, also expected to be unencrypted, are unaccounted for. The report, by the council's chief inspector, states: "These losses referred to indicate that theft has occurred on a significant scale over a number of years from a 'secure area', and it would also appear to show that these thefts have been well-organised and systematic."May's theft, which is expected to lead to a significant six-figure fine for the council from the UK's Information Commissioner, led to an audit of all the council's IT hardware, which is run by a public-private partnership called Access.As well as almost 750 devices that are unaccounted for, the report says "a further nine incidents of theft involving 37 pieces of equipment have been reported by departments from various council premises throughout the city".These include 28 laptops, only one of which was encrypted, three Blackberries, two desktop PCs, three memory sticks and a SIM card. According to the report, "where appropriate, these losses were reported to Strathclyde Police".Access has also reported the loss of 53 laptops from its city-centre premises, claiming they were in a secure holding area in the basement of the building.Most of the losses occurred in the current year, including after the theft of the two laptops in May. Almost half of the laptops were unencrypted.Access cites several recent examples of items going missing, including two unencrypted laptops that were returned and then lost the following day; and a councillor who returned a new encrypted device only for it to go missing the next day.All staff with access to areas where equipment is stored were interviewed but were unable to explain the loss, which was then reported to Strathclyde Police.Graeme Hendry, leader of the council's SNP group, said: "Glasgow's management of IT systems has been chaotic at best. To lose two laptops is worrying but nearly 750 is beyond belief."It would seem Glasgow's idea of looking after its resources involves ticking boxes rather than genuine management of equipment."He also made a swipe at the council's decision to award Access a £7 million contract to provide security across its estate, claiming it was "vital we improve the governance and management of this agency".The bank details thefts were the second lapse in recent years. After a memory stick with details of sex offenders and their victims was lost, a helpline to handle the fallout received nearly 2000 calls and 27 formal complaints were made.A council spokesman said: "What this report shows is that for a number of years the council family has been poor at keeping accurate records of its IT equipment."

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Local government

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Council has lost hundreds of computers

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