It was only two days ago that the world found out about the sale of a camera with confidential information from MI-6.  The media is now reporting that MI-5 is looking for a palmtop computer that went missing after a thief burglarized a house rented by the intelligence service.  The good news is that the device, which did have sensitive and confidential intelligence stored on it, had used data encryption to protect its contents, data protection that works at its core like hard drive encryption from AlertBoot.  The bad news is that the story made the news.  The odd story is, also, that it made the news.

Odd because…why would any self-respecting secret agency go around reporting this to the police?  You read that right.  A spokesman for the Greater Manchester Police had the details of what happened, and asked for any citizens approached with the device to contact them.  You’d imagine that a department like the MI-5 would go around trying to figure out who stole their stuff, and not file a burglary report with the coppers.  Is it just me?

Perhaps, the MI-5 feels comfortable with local cops dealing with it because of the use of device encryption.  As stated by the spokesman, the information is encrypted, so the chances of that data being accessed are virtually nil.  This means that the PDA is now nothing but a normal PDA, or possibly the equivalent of a brick, since the sensitive information cannot be retrieved.  After all, what’s the difference between the stolen PDA and the same model someone else has?  The data, which, once more, is encrypted.  As long as the agent who—may I add, has been slightly irresponsible with the device—didn’t have the credentials for decrypting the data stuck to the device, there is no data security breach.

Of course, this hasn’t stopped the media, or on-line comment makers, from portraying this as an information security bungle.  Is it really?  Sure, it’s funny that a burglar was able to get into what may have been a safe house for the MI-5, through an open window, no less.  And I can understand the concern—what secrets were in that PDA that could affect the security of Brittania?

On the other hand, I can also understand the seeming nonchalance of how the case is being dealt with.  With encryption in place, the chances of that information being made public are very low.  So low that you may have a better chance of winning the national lottery five times in a row.  In one single day.

Related Articles:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article4868535.ece

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/manchester/7648207.stm

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/s/1070173_mi5_terror_computer_stolen_