Keeping track of your laptop at the airport is not as simple as it seems, according to a survey carried out by the Ponemon Institute on behalf of Dell: some 12,000 are reported lost in transit each week and a startling 69pc are never claimed.
This number is pretty scary considering most of them belong to businesspeople who are carrying confidential company data on board. According to an interview with Larry Ponemon, chairman and founder of the Ponemon Institute, on ChannelWeb, some 53pc of businesspeople carry laptops and 69pc do not have adequate data protection.
The Ponemon study coincides with Dell’s launch of its ProSupport Mobility Services, which will allow victims to track missing or stolen laptops and also remotely delete sensitive data.
“When your laptop’s at risk, your data’s at risk. And when your data’s at risk, your company and your customers are being put at risk,” said Chris Ratcliffe, director of global services at Dell.
While this new suite of services is only presently available in the US and Canada, it will reportedly be available to European and Asian customers sometime in July or August.
“This is as useful for the one-man architect as it is for a company like Dell or GE or GM, or anyone else who has literally thousands of laptops in the field,” said Ratcliffe.
Given the recent laptop thefts that resulted in the risk of exposure or abuse of the personal data of thousands of Irish citizens, maybe the Irish Blood Transfusion Service and Bank of Ireland will be investing in such a service.
By Marie Boran
