Missing Laptops Paying Off for Crooks

As part of a study of lost and stolen business laptops by the Ponemon Institute and sponsored by the Intel Corporation, researchers discovered that more than 300 of the 329 organizations polled had collectively lost more than 86,000 laptops, causing problems worth more than $2.1 billion, according to The Wall Street Journal.

"The sheer incompetence is overwhelming at times," said Larry Ponemon, chairman and founder of the institute, during a recent press briefing in San Francisco, according to the newspaper.

Because a business laptop often contains client information or other sensitive data, a misplaced or stolen computer could result in a data breach. To help protect against this threat, all business computers should be encrypted and password-protected, and laptops can also be equipped with anti-theft technology.

Refer to our October 2010 Newsletter for tips on what to do if your private information has been part of a data breach.