14 DAY TRIAL // Loosing laptops containing vital information is more than a trend in the past years, it's growing to be a real fashion. Lately, the most reported cases had medical files and the computers they were on being front and center, but some bank blueprints and some government information being misplaced can't have their importance diminished because of that. Usually the data found, in case it isn't immediately hidden back by the respective person for further consultation and use, malevolent purposes implied, is written in plain English, without any type of protection, easy for everybody to understand.
The laptop bought on eBay, however, differed. The data wasn't actually on the hard drive, but was hidden under the keyboard, on an optical disk, already labeled "Home Office" and "Confidential." That's a major improvement, makes one wonder why the computer was sold in the first place.
The buyer took the laptop to a small IT-repair firm near Bolton, Leapfrog Computers, because he had trouble using it. When Lee Bevan, an engineer there, opened it up he made the discovery: "This seemed like just another IT repair... the customer said he had bought it on eBay and seemed quite innocent. It was just an ordinary laptop and it was only when we opened up the keyboard that we found the disk - it had the words Home Office and Confidential written on it. The disk appeared to be hidden deliberately underneath the keyboard. We put the disk in the drive to see what it was, but it was encrypted. As soon as I saw it belonged to the Home Office I placed it in the company safe and called the police. Luckily, it has ended up in the right hands. The police were here most of the day examining the laptop and the disk," he said.
Home Office told The Guardian that both the optical disk and the laptop had been encrypted, but failed to answer whether the machine itself was government property. My best guess is that somebody stole the laptop and, after trying to work his way around the protection, the perpetrator sold it. No point in keeping incriminatory evidence around to be found, is there?