US LAPTOP COMPUTER THEFT COSTS RISING Costs Attributable to Laptop Theft Are Projected to Exceed $1 Billion | Identity Theft Daily

Costs Attributable to Laptop Theft Are Projected to Exceed $1 Billion

Written by Identity Theft Daily Staff

Wednesday, 16 July 2008

The costs in 2008 attributable to laptop theft and its consequences are on track to exceed $1 billion by the end of the year, a running tally by laptop tracking firm MyLaptopGPS strongly suggested. In the face of these mounting costs, according to widely televised and quoted personal security and identity theft expert Robert Siciliano, affordable, simple-to-use technology designed to deter laptop theft and protect the information on them gives smart organizations the advantage. "The pace of laptop theft continues unabated, threatening at any time to cripple governments or the system of commerce with just one large enough theft," said Siciliano. "Meanwhile, the accumulated costs in identity theft and other crimes attributable to countless smaller-scale laptop thefts leave the public already questioning the security of worldwide databases and financial systems. Smart organizations understand this and take measures to prevent laptoptheft and mitigate its fallout when it does happen." CEO of IDTheftSecurity.com and a member of the Bank Fraud & IT Security Report's editorial board, Siciliano leads Fortune 500 companies and their clients through consumer education workshops that explore security solutions for businesses and individuals. A longtime identitytheft speaker and author has discussed data security and consumer protection on CNBC, NBC's "Today Show," FOX News Network, and elsewhere. At its website, MyLaptopGPS keeps a running tally of highly publicized laptop and desktop computer thefts and losses. The Realtime Estimated Damage Index (REDI) also assesses those losses' associated costs by drawing on estimates from the FBI and other sources that reflect the likelihood that identitytheft and other crimes will occur whenever a computer is misplaced or stolen. On June 30, the REDI had recorded the loss of nearly 500 machines to date, with an associated cost attributable to just these few hundred machines on track to easily surpass $500 million by the end of 2008. Taking into account the countless unpublicized laptop thefts that the REDI does not record, the total cost attributable to laptoptheft in 2008 was likely on pace to exceed $1 billion. "The thefts of laptops just continue to pile up," said MyLaptopGPS' chief technology officer, Dan Yost, who directed readers to a log of high-profile laptop thefts that the company records at its website: http://www.mylaptopgps.com/chronicle.php "With no end in sight," Yost added, "the potential of millions of stolen identities as a result, and the prospect of class-action lawsuits and voter backlash against institutions responsible for these lost laptops, the alternative of a less-than-ten-dollars-per-month preventative measure against laptoptheft starts to make a lot of sense." According to Siciliano, the state of laptop computer security is woeful. Siciliano encouraged readers to consider anti-laptop theft technology such as MyLaptopGPS', which combines Internet-based GPS tracking with other functionalities to secure mobile computing devices. Users launch MyLaptopGPS' features remotely, protecting data even while the machine is in a criminal's hands. Once connected to the Internet, the software silently retrieves, and then deletes, files from machines as it tracks thestolen or missing hardware -- at once returning the data to its rightful owner and removing it from the lost computer.