Why the Citizens Advice employee left the laptop in the car is unclear, but the laptop was then stolen.

Up to 60,000 client records are held on the computer, which was stolen in the early hours of 5 December 2007. According to Citizens Advice in Northern Ireland, the data stored relates to people from the Belfast area who have sought advice from a Citizens Advice Bureau office within the city.

The amount of information held varies from case to case, but most records would include name, address, date of birth, and national insurance number. In a number of cases, some financial information is also recorded, including the client's bank account number.

In a statement issued on 7 December 2007, the chief executive of Citizens Advice in Northern Ireland, Derek Alcorn, said the organisation had informed the police and the information commissioner of the situation and would be writing to all the individuals concerned.

He said the data was protected by three levels of security, including a high level of encryption.

With recent government ommissions about the HMRC loosing CD's containing data from 400 clients, it raises the question of the security of your client data. If you have employees who carry about sensitive information in portable devices, is the data encyrpted or simply stored in easy access format. It is worth reviewing your security policy to ensure your business is safe...