UK Teachers Put Student Data at Risk

Via BBC -

Sensitive information on school pupils is being put at risk by staff who take it home with them, an IT firm says.

Teachers in nearly half of England's primary schools back up pupil data on CDs and memory sticks, which they then take out of school, research suggests.

A survey of 933 schools for school computing firm RM found only 1% of respondents were encrypting the data.

RM blamed a lack of clear guidance, but the government said it published advice for schools on the issue.

The warning comes after a string of data security breaches by government departments and associated agencies.

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I remember several cases of this happening in US colleges....

While the data most likely doesn't include financial information, teachers do have access to sensitive personal information that could be used in mass ID theft by bad guys.