We’ve become accustomed to data leaks here in the UK in recent years. Memory sticks, CD’s, and now hard drives – when it comes to data protection, anything, it seems, goes.

Last week, PA Consulting revealed that a memory stick holding the details of the UK’s criminal population, which it had been safeguarding for the Home Office, had escaped from its custody. And yesterday, an unsuspecting IT manager purchased a hard drive on Ebay (where else) containing the personal details of over two million customers of four of the UK’s major banks.

One of the companies involved, the Royal Bank of Scotland, said that the computer had been “inappropriately sold on via a third party.” All of which begs the question – how safe is your data? And do you know exactly who has access to it?

The banks in this instance appear to have got lucky, in that the hard drive fell into the hands of an IT manager and not a criminal mastermind. Your organisation might not be so lucky.