Laptop Theft Reality Check – How Big is the Problem, What is the Impact, and What Can You Do about It?

Laptop theft has four main impacts, of which replacement cost is usually the most minor. The major impacts are disruption to the business; potential gain by an adversary of sensitive business information; and reputation damage or litigation due to loss of personal private client/employee data.

Key Points

1. The chance that a laptop will be stolen or lost during any twelve months is one in ten, according to a 2002 Gartner Group study.


2. Many large companies loose about 100 laptops a year. It only takes one laptop to fall into the wrong hands for a journalistic “coup”.


3. Because laptops are portable, they are highly susceptible to theft.


4. Researchers at Credant Technologies have determined that 25% of laptops are stolen from the office or the owner’s car. Another 14% are lost in airports or on airplanes.


5. In London every year thousands of laptops are left in taxis. Thousands more are stolen from UK hotels.


6. Worldwide, over one million laptops are stolen every year, according to the FBI.


7. The chance that a laptop will be stolen or lost during any twelve months is one in ten, according to a 2002 Gartner Group study.


8. The chance of recovering a stolen laptop is almost negligible. According to the FBI, for example, 97% of stolen laptops are never recovered.


9. Ponemon Institute’s 2006 U.S. Survey on Confidential Data at Risk concluded “both business and government organizations are not taking appropriate steps to safeguard sensitive or confidential information such as intellectual property, business confidential documents, customer data, and employee records.”


10. Estimates of the cost of a single laptop loss vary from $5,000 per incident to $5 million per incident.


11. In a 2005 survey by Credent Technologies, employees who had lost laptops were unproductive for two weeks before they were able to resume regular activities.


12. In a Ponemon study conducted in 2005, researchers found data breaches seriously affected corporate reputation, corporate brand, and customer retention. When notified of a breach, almost 20% of customers terminated their relationship with the company. Another 40% considered termination.


13. The loss of a laptop with confidential information is a privacy violation, which in turn can lead to civil liability.
    
    The ASIS Foundation has produced what is probably the best ever report on laptop theft and theft mitigation. The report can be downloaded from:
    
    http://www.asisonline.org/foundation/lostlaptop.pdf
    
    or contact David to obtain a copy by email.