Seeing as my data is no doubt on said laptop I'll have my twogigs worth.
Looking at the MOD statement and the posts on this thread and I'd say it's fairly reasonable to conclude that the 600,000 records is everyone that's enquired and then joined (or not) the two services within the last ten years.
I don't know why bank details would be with that. I don't recall ever being asked for bank details as part of the recruitment process...?
So there's a question about the source of such data and then why was it needed. Were they planning to cold-call those who lost interest? Were they looking to identify target areas based on enquiries, is there an area of Solihull with a predisposition to join the SBS?
I'm surprised that people, especially military (how quickly we forget the IRA) do not know that laptops are an easy target, especially for your average junkie that needs a quickfix.
Very disappointed. For the officer concerned the worst thing, ultimately, is the shame in letting down your colleagues.