Introduction to the History of Lost or Stolen Laptops
Whenever new computer-related technologies are invented and introduced to the market,a few things usually happen, especially when it represents a new, much anticipated convenience for businesses or users:
1. Everyone runs out and buys it.Such was the case with laptops, when truly "portable" models began to come to market in the mid 1990s. Businesses began purchasing them for employees that had a need to travel or work from home. Many of these employees placed sensitive information on these laptops and learned the hard way how quickly and easily a 4-12 pound portable computer can disappear, along with any secret and/or sensitive data on it.
The following stories detail many highly publicized examples of this problem, most of which involve government agencies. These stories received the most attention, because the general public expects government officials to be some of the most security-aware individuals.
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Lost or Stolen Laptops in the News
Go to Attrition's dataloss page and do a search for the word "laptop". The results are staggering, but there are some patterns as well. Most stolen laptops result in the compromise of social security numbers, and no one with sensitive data on their laptops seem to be using encryption. There is no excuse for data on laptops to be unencrypted anymore, especially with products that are effective, easy to use, and free, like TrueCrypt.
[03-08-06] -
Verizon - 2 Laptops Stolen - A "significant number" of people are affected
[03-03-06] - Metropolitan State College - 1 Laptop Stolen - 93,000 SSNs affected
[03-01-06] - Medco Health Solutions, Inc. - 1 Laptop Stolen - 4,600 SSNs affected
[02-25-06] -
Ernst & Young - 1 Laptop Stolen - An unknown number of SSNs affected
[02-22-06] -
PricewaterhouseCoopers - 1 Laptop Stolen - 4,000 SSNs affected
[06-01-05] - UVM.edu - Computer Theft Prevention [local] - [Remote]
*1 out of every 10 notebook (Laptop) computeres will be stolen within the first 12 months of purchase. 90% of them will never be recovered. -FBI Statistic-
*10 out of every 10 Res. Life offices have no clue about computer security or managing student life. -Zodiac Statistic-
*Tracking software is one of the most effective ways to combat computer theft. It is a two pronged system that includes the purchasing of an annual membership with a company who will then provide the computer owner with software to download. Once this software is installed the location of the computer can be tracked by the company in the event that the computer is ever stolen and connected online. Check out Police Service website for more information.
*Installing tracking software is one of the most effective ways to lose your privacy on the internet. Check out Zodiac's personal section for instructions on how to implant a GPS reciever deep in your colon so someone will know where you are at all times. And for general rectal health issues.
[01-25-05] - John Leyden - Londoners top world in leaving laptops in taxis
[local] -
[remote]
*In the last six months in London, 63,135 mobile phones (an average of three phones per taxi), 5,838 PDAs and 4,973 laptops have been left in licensed taxi cabs.
*Londoners left more than double the number of laptops in the back of taxis compared with other cities.
*In Chicago, the mobile device most likely to be left behind were PDAs, with one taxi driver reporting finding 40 in his taxi in the past six months.
*Danes were most forgetful when it came to mobile phones, leaving seven times as many in the back of cabs as Germans or their Swedish neighbours.
*With such forgetful passengers it’s just as well that (British) taxi drivers are generally an honest bunch. According to the survey, an average of 80 percent of passengers were reunited with their mobile phones and 96 percent with their PDAs and laptops - with the cab drivers in almost all cases tracking down their owners.
*However, the case was very different in Australia, with only 46 percent of laid-back passengers bothering to reclaim their mobiles and only 18 percent being reunited with their laptops.
[09-15-03] - BBC News - Government laptops 'not secure'
[local] - [remote]
*One in 17 key public sector workers, like government or defence officials, say they have either lost theirs (laptops) or had them stolen, said security firm Thales.
*Most (government officials) rely on passwords to prevent access to files and a surprising number write their passwords down.
*The survey showed that at least 60 of the 200 MoD and government laptops lost or stolen will have contained sensitive information.
'LOST' LAPTOPS 1996 TO 2002
Ministry of Defense : 594
Work and Pensions : 419
International Development: 115
DTI : 79
Lord Chancellor's Dept : 77
Cabinet Office : 43
Treasury : 14
Northern Ireland Office : 3
[08-06-02] - Steve Kingstone - FBI guns and laptops go missing
Record-keeping was poor, the Justice Department found
[local] -
[remote]
*An embarrassed US Justice Department is reviewing its security procedures after admitting that more than 700 weapons and over 400 laptop computers had gone missing in the past three years.
*In July last year, the FBI carried out an exhaustive inventory of equipment and found 184 computers were missing, including 13 that were believed to have been stolen.
[01-14-02] - BBC News - MoD 'loses 600 laptops'
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[remote]
*Figures obtained by Liberal Democrat MP Paul Burstow revealed that a total of 1,354 government-owned computers had gone missing over the past five years.
*From the MoD, 594 laptops have gone missing; a further 419 have disappeared from the Department for Work and Pensions; and 115 from the Department for International Development.
*Some computers were detailed as stolen while others had simply been "lost"
*Mr Burstow's figures also revealed that hackers had illegally accessed the MoD's computer system 27 times since 1999, the Mail on Sunday reported.
Reported hacking incidents
MoD : 27
Lord Chancellor's Dept : 19
Foreign Office : 5
Northern Ireland Office : 4
Home Office : 3
[08-31-01] - Linda Harrison - 62,000 mobiles lost in London's black cabs
[local] -
[remote]
*Around 62,000 mobile phones were left in London taxis during the last six months.
*While half the lost mobiles were never reclaimed, 93 per cent of laptops and 85 per cent of PDAs were returned to their rightful owners - mostly as the result of them being tracked down by cab drivers.
Individual incidents of government losses reported in the press:
Sneak thief steals state secrets in MI5 laptop
Second spy loses laptop
Third secret-packed official notebook nicked
US State Department shakeup over missing laptop
MoD laptop thefts put the wind up the US
See, if they just read attrition.org (or the NY Times), they could have avoided
all this inconvenience : )
Laptop theft is on the rise