Laptops become the latest targets of petty thieves
September 10, 2008: The ad speaks volumes of the forlorn hopes of the advertiser: “Laptop lost, stolen from car parked in Sarit Centre. Considerable reward for any information leading to its recovery.”
Advertisements promising large rewards for lost laptops are becoming a popular feature in daily publications, with one appearing on average, every two weeks.
For Susan Mutua, the owner of a small fashion business, her ad yielded no results, and the total loss to her company arising from the theft was over Sh300,000.
“The laptop itself cost about Sh78,000. It was the software, the customer information, business plans and the contacts lost that hurt me the most,” she said.
The issue is affecting many businesses as a more mobile work-force means greater use of the gadgets, but the increased number of laptops being used has translated into a higher frequency of thefts, with the police now terming the problem as serious.
An increase in the uptake of notebooks, especially by small and medium businesses, is leading to more users adopting laptops as the computer of choice.
Users who are more burdened by the rising cost of doing business see laptops as an ideal alternative to desktops, because they enable users to increase productivity by working anywhere - however, the mobility of the device means laptop owners often expose themselves to more risks by carrying them to and from the office.
With many of the devices being carried around by business executives containing sensitive business information, their disappearance implies great losses for companies which invest in them for convenience.
According to a new survey released by laptop manufacturer Dell, 47 per cent of laptops carried by business people contain sensitive information, such as customer information.
Airport Insecurity: The case of Missing or Lost Laptops, is the title of the report sponsored by Dell and carried out by the Ponemon Institute earlier this year. It lists airports as the number one venue where laptops go missing.
Business travellers lose more than 12,000 laptops per week in US airports, with only 30 per cent of them being reclaimed. The other 70 per cent remain in the airport until they are disposed of by personnel.
As a result, the report says, there are potentially millions of files containing sensitive or confidential data that may be accessible to a large number of airport employees and contractors.
“Laptop computer theft has been described as a ‘high-growth’ industry the world over. Because they are small, valuable, can be removed quickly, are easily hidden, and there is a ready market for them, they are attractive to thieves” said a representative of the Kenya Police.
According to Kenya Police data, good laptops can be worth up to Sh500,000 or more, and thieves are able to sell stolen laptops to unsuspecting individuals, used computer stores or pawnshops, and easily receive up to half its value in cash.
The cost of a stolen laptop is not just its replacement cost, but also the cost of peripherals such as modems and network cards, the installed software, the cost of configuration and loading replacement software, and the cost of lost time for the laptop owner while it is being replaced.
An even greater cost is the exposure and liability that results from lost information.
According to Dell’s survey, over 53 per cent of business travellers say that their laptops contain confidential or sensitive information.
“I had no backup of what was on my laptop and I never used a password, so all my information may be somewhere out there in the wrong hands,” said Ms Mutua.
According to the Dell study, most laptops include customer data (47 per cent), confidential business information (46 per cent), intellectual property such as software codes, drawings or renderings (14 per cent), or employee records (13 per cent).
Advertisements promising large rewards for lost laptops are becoming a popular feature in daily publications, with one appearing on average, every two weeks.
For Susan Mutua, the owner of a small fashion business, her ad yielded no results, and the total loss to her company arising from the theft was over Sh300,000.
“The laptop itself cost about Sh78,000. It was the software, the customer information, business plans and the contacts lost that hurt me the most,” she said.
The issue is affecting many businesses as a more mobile work-force means greater use of the gadgets, but the increased number of laptops being used has translated into a higher frequency of thefts, with the police now terming the problem as serious.
An increase in the uptake of notebooks, especially by small and medium businesses, is leading to more users adopting laptops as the computer of choice.
Users who are more burdened by the rising cost of doing business see laptops as an ideal alternative to desktops, because they enable users to increase productivity by working anywhere - however, the mobility of the device means laptop owners often expose themselves to more risks by carrying them to and from the office.
With many of the devices being carried around by business executives containing sensitive business information, their disappearance implies great losses for companies which invest in them for convenience.
According to a new survey released by laptop manufacturer Dell, 47 per cent of laptops carried by business people contain sensitive information, such as customer information.
Airport Insecurity: The case of Missing or Lost Laptops, is the title of the report sponsored by Dell and carried out by the Ponemon Institute earlier this year. It lists airports as the number one venue where laptops go missing.
Business travellers lose more than 12,000 laptops per week in US airports, with only 30 per cent of them being reclaimed. The other 70 per cent remain in the airport until they are disposed of by personnel.
As a result, the report says, there are potentially millions of files containing sensitive or confidential data that may be accessible to a large number of airport employees and contractors.
“Laptop computer theft has been described as a ‘high-growth’ industry the world over. Because they are small, valuable, can be removed quickly, are easily hidden, and there is a ready market for them, they are attractive to thieves” said a representative of the Kenya Police.
According to Kenya Police data, good laptops can be worth up to Sh500,000 or more, and thieves are able to sell stolen laptops to unsuspecting individuals, used computer stores or pawnshops, and easily receive up to half its value in cash.
The cost of a stolen laptop is not just its replacement cost, but also the cost of peripherals such as modems and network cards, the installed software, the cost of configuration and loading replacement software, and the cost of lost time for the laptop owner while it is being replaced.
An even greater cost is the exposure and liability that results from lost information.
According to Dell’s survey, over 53 per cent of business travellers say that their laptops contain confidential or sensitive information.
Security
Alarmingly, more than 30 per cent of people who lose their laptops admit they do not take steps to protect or secure the information contained on their laptop according to the report.“I had no backup of what was on my laptop and I never used a password, so all my information may be somewhere out there in the wrong hands,” said Ms Mutua.
According to the Dell study, most laptops include customer data (47 per cent), confidential business information (46 per cent), intellectual property such as software codes, drawings or renderings (14 per cent), or employee records (13 per cent).
Tips to keep your laptop (and other electrical gadgets) safe when you travel
(Adapted from Kenya Police and Ponemon Institute report) |
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