Details have emerged of a theft of a laptop containing pension details of BSkyB staff and other firms.
The theft, involving an employee from the accountancy firm Deloitte, occurred last month. Deloitte said it was working with the undisclosed firms affected.
But Sky issued a statement: "We believe this was an opportunistic theft and the laptop is protected by a number of security measures."
Deloitte said that these included a start up password, operating system user ID/password authentication, and encryption. The laptop was in a handbag stolen in a public place, suggesting opportunistic theft. "These factors combined means that the risk of the data being accessed or misused is extremely low," Sky added.
Nevertheless, the data lost included BSkyB employees' details, including their names and salaries. Deloitte stressed that it did not include addresses or bank account information.
The accountancy added in its statement: "The theft was immediately reported to the police and relevant clients were notified.
"Deloitte has information security policies that include guidelines for employees to ensure they pay close attention to their laptops when in public places. Very unfortunately, this theft still occurred."
Sky said it was working with Deloitte to prevent any more breaches by reviewing those processes already in place, but had not replied to any further request for comment at the time of writing.
