Safeguarding sensitive information — no matter how sophisticated the IT system — can never be foolproof, according to new research. The loss of a CD by HM Revenue & Customs in the UK in November 2007 containing personal and financial details of over 7 million families claiming child benefit was swiftly followed by assurances that such a mistake would never happen again. Then in February, an agency of the Department for Health admitted that over 4,000 NHS smartcards, giving potential computer access to patient records, had been lost or stolen – and nearly a third of these in the last year alone.