London's Barnet Council has apologized to the parents of 9,000 schoolchildren after a laptop, CD and USB sticks containing the students' personal information were stolen. The devices, which stored student names, post codes and phone numbers, among other data, were stolen during a burglary at a staff member's home. The employee had downloaded the student files from an encrypted database, decrypting the data in the process. The employee has since been suspended for breaking council rules, and the council says it has disabled external storage devices to prevent unauthorized copies of data, The Register reports.
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