YaY! Contact details of every barrister stolen

Subject: YaY! Contact details of every barrister stolen Wed Dec 17, 2008 6:06 pm

Thousands of lawyers have been put at risk after contact details of every barrister in England and Wales were stolen in a raid in London.

Information on 17,000 barristers have gone missing including the home addresses of one in ten and the bank details of 3,000.

Names and contact details of hundreds of witnesses and people who have complained about barristers were also taken.

The information was contained in five computers stolen during a break-in at the Bar Council offices and is the latest in a string of sensitive data losses.

Officials stressed the information is security protected but it would be of huge value to criminals bearing a grudge against a prosecutor who helped convict them.

Details on witnesses also pose dangers for their safety if a computer expert can get through the security protection and access the information.

The Bar Council, the professional body for barristers, has written to everyone concerned to alert them to the theft.

Bar Council chief executive David Hobart said: "I am sorry that, as a result of this burglary, barristers and some members of the public have had data stolen from the Bar Council office in Holborn.

"At present the signs are this was a random burglary, but to be sure we will have to wait for the outcome of the police investigation.

"I want to reassure anyone who may be concerned that the stolen data is correctly and safely protected, and I am confident that no one will suffer loss as a result."

Thieves stole a lap top and four computer hard-drives during a raid on the organisation's offices in Holborn, central London, on Friday, which also houses the Bar Standards Board.

Among the information held on the disks was the contact details of around 12,000 practising barristers and 5,000 non-practising barristers.

The home addresses were included in about one in ten of the practising lawyers - the equivalent of 1,200.

And the name, bank account numbers and sort codes of 3,000 who pay their membership fees by Direct Debit were also on the system.

Also stolen were 1,500 computerised complaints records including names and contact details of barristers, complainants and witnesses.

A spokesman insisted all the information was protected by two or three levels of security, including encryption and password protection, and could not be accessed readily.

Police were called on Saturday morning when the break-in was discovered and officers are investigating the thefts.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/lawandorder/3814264/Contact-details-of-every-barrister-stolen.html

YaY! Contact details of every barrister stolen

YaY! Contact details of every barrister stolen

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