Royal Laptop Stolen Along with Intimate Pictures

After the UK government was hit by numerous data loss incidents this year, the Royal family suffered a similar security breach. The personal laptop of Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, was stolen from a photo studio.

Fergie, as the British media often refers to the Duchess who made a passion for amateur photography, has entrusted one of her aids with taking a personal laptop to a professional studio where intimate photos were to be printed and archived. Unfortunately, not long after receiving the royal laptop, the Black Cat Sound and Vision studio in Potters Bar, Hertfordshire, was raided by thieves, at night, and the computer ended up being stolen along with other items.

According to the Daily Telegraph, the photos stored on the laptop depicted members of the royal family and their friends. Some of them included Prince Andrew, Princess Beatrice, and Princess Eugenie, while other pictures had been taken during the Dutchess' recent trips. A source close to the family commented that "They are personal images taken by the Duchess and she desperately wants them back."

There is no evidence to suggest that the thieves were aware of the origin of the laptop or that they specifically targeted it. According to the police, it's highly likely that this was just an unfortunate opportunistic incident, and there is a good chance that the crooks will not even bother to break the password, which is said to protect the laptop, before wiping it clean and selling it.

Since there is no official statement regarding this incident from the royal family's staff or the Dutchess herself, Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at security vendor Sophos, points out that other information might have been stored on the computer as well. "It seems unlikely that the only data stored on the laptop was photographic. Could there be archived email, passwords, address books, and other information on the laptop that - in the hands of an identity thief - could have a value?" he asks.

Of course, there are other questions raised by this security breach, like why were the photos sent to the studio on a laptop when a USB stick or an optical disk would have been much easier to carry and secure? It would have also drawn less attention and it's fair to assume that it wouldn't have been stolen.

Another thing that bothers security experts is that encryption was not even mentioned, again. The Register quotes Michael Callahan, senior vice president and chief marketing officer at Credant, who stresses that "Given the fact that the Royal Family was involved with the pictures held on this laptop, the data should have been encrypted - full stop."