Kate McCluskey, UK,

The person in question should not be fired. He or she should be JAILED for life. Now that's what would make a great example and deter these funny civil servants from playing with fire.

Daniel Fernandes, Middle England, UK

Unfortunately, what all these data-loss incidents show is a completely cavalier attitude to data protection.

This is probably only the tip of the iceberg, as this latest case was leaked into the public domain, and would have been covered up otherwise.

That the Government should be trying to con us into placing all out vital information onto a central database, linked to an id card, doesn't bear thinking about.

Patrick, Newcastle upon Tyne,

How does anyone come to leave a computer with such sensitive data in a car? It's bad enough that anyone should have access to so much information let alone remove it from secure surroundings.

leila, manchester, uk

The MOD has clear rules for assessing data risks. When data is aggregated into large data sets this raises the risks and generally results in the data being assigned a protection level. For any given protection level specific procedures must be followed to protect the data and reduce the residual risk to an acceptable level. If the data that has been stolen is indeed as described then there has probably been a whole series of failings: from failing to assess the risk correctly to failure to follow the protection rules given the level of risk. The systems from which the data originated should also have been risk-managed and should have included authentication, access control and audit controls to prevent the data being used or accessed without authority. Even if one individual has been individually negligent, it is very unlikely that only one individual is responsible. If the MOD's own rules were being followed one individual could not have done this.

Tim Williams, Reading,

That anyone could be allowed to have such data on a portable pc is absurd. It can have no justifyable use except in breach of the data protection act.
There is also a more fundemental question "how useful is this data to an enemy of the state? " In the time of asymetric warfare a list of all those recruited or appliying, together with contact details, is probably the most valuable asset that could be lost.
I would see merely taking this data outside a secure environment as an act of treason.
If one person carried this data are their another 100 copies ?
Any government that has allowed this to happen must be held to account.

BillG, Buckinghamshire, UK

How can someone have such access to so much data? It should only be accessible by the most senior personel.

The person in question should be fired to make an example.

Peoples lives are potentially at stake here. Also further investigations are needed to establish whether this could have been 'deliberate' and if so what prosecutions will take?

Identifying who authorised this level of access should also be reviewed urgently.

I cannot believe that someone would be so lax on such vital information.

Heads must roll in this case. Staff need to know they will be held responsible for their actions and so should Ministers.

Kate McCluskey, UK,

Why did this officer need to take this laptop away with him if he was only leaving it in his car? He clearly was not working on it. Most normal people realise it is sheer folly to leave anything in a car overnight, from radios, mobile phones to laptops.

It begs the question whether this was done deliberately. I cannot believe that anyone is that stupid!!!

Why do people have to take this sensitive material out of the working environment anyway? This has happened to bank officials too (Nationwide last year). They should be able to afford their own pc/laptop for home use and leave the work laptop where it is safest - at the office in a lockable desk!!!

Michele John, Saumur, France

How can anyone be so daft as to leave a laptop in a car overnight? Doesn't anyone have any common sense now? Or was this a set-up? I would really question why the person was so irresponsible and could not summon up the strength to carry the laptop away from the car.

Linda, New York City, USA

There are no surprises anymore ,not one department is fit for purpose!
There are far more civil servants Than anyone needs or wants and not one of them knows what any of the others are doing,sounds like the perfect situation for every politition and civil servant to get away with doing absolutely nothing, for ever more.!

Terry , Basildon, Essex

The first, second and third times this sort of thing happened, I laughed making cynical jokes. I quoted from Oscar Wilde,,,, first time a mistake, second a coincedence, third time treason!
Now the time for cynical jokes is past, and I urge that a high level investigation take place. It is possible that terrorists have grown too sophisticated to just stick at bombings, and are moving in to completely destroy the infrastructure of the UK. Perhaps this may appear paranoid, but remember even paranoids have enemies.

Anne Wotana Kaye, London, England

This junior officer had a vast ammount of sensitive data which he could never need in the course of his duties. I would question the need for him to have any of this data on a laptop.

Is this the sort of officer serving on and commanding our warships.

Is this the result of iresponsible personnel selection, relaxed discipline, poor mangement and total unawareness of basic security policies within the service that carries our nuclear deterrent?

This whole farce of anyone carrying unencrypted data out of a totally secure environment must now stop.

The old security test of "need-to-know" should now be altered to "need-to-posess" - access is a another matter.

R Bingham, Lauzun, France

Nationwide Building Society which, less than a year ago, was fined £980,000 by a Government agency (FSA) for a similar misdemeanour, should waste no time in demanding their money back.
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/banking_and_finance/article1383712.ece

Neill Foster, Aylesbury,

Britians are just being scammed by the government

Suzanne, Dublin,