The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has lost 340 laptops over the past two years it has been recently revealed. The organisation also admitted that less than half of those machines had encryption software installed to prevent the exposure of sensitive data.

A law forcing all organisations to publically declare data breaches is to be in place in the UK within four years. It is an indication that Europe is ready to go over the head of internal governments on the issue of data protection.

The majority of UK businesses feel that data protection laws are too soft. These are the findings of a recent survey by IT security firm Sophos UK & Ireland. The research, conducted among 1200 UK-based organisations, suggests that our country's current data protection legislation is relaxed and 'needs revision'.

Birmingham's Children's Hospital has received a warning from the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) after breaching the Data Protection Act.

A lack of training in handling sensitive data is said to be the main cause in the latest Data Protection Breaches. Three councils including London Borough of Barnet, West Sussex County Council and Buckinghamshire County Council have all been found in breach of the Data Protection Act and as a result, over 9000 children’s data has been put at risk.

Training company A4e has written to clients in Hull and Leicester after losing details of over 24,000 people. The records were stored on a laptop that was stolen from the house of A4e employee during an "opportunistic domestic burglary".

A laptop containing the personal details of over 13,000 British farmers has been stolen from a parked car. DairyCo - an organisation set up to improve the quality of the UK dairy market - has written to all those affected in apology.

Kent Police is the latest organisation responsible for a breach of the Data Protection Act. Last week, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) issued a press release that contained details of the breach - where sensitive personal data was accidentally exposed.

The Data Protection Act 1998 has been garnering much attention in recent times. It is referenced regularly in the media when companies accidentally lose confidential data or information security is topic of the day. But what is the Data Protection Act exactly and why does it exist?

As of April 6th 2010, the Information Commissioners Office will have the power to charge fines of up to £500,000 to any business or organisation that is responsible for a breach in the Data Protection Act 1998.