The Risk of Laptop Theft and Loss

How Vulnerable Are Your Assets?

An increasingly mobile workforce is putting corporations’ sensitive and confidential information at great risk. "The Cost of a Lost Laptop"
Ponemon Institute, 2009

For most businesses, laptops and their data contents represent high-value assets—possibly the highest-value assets that ever leave their premises. Laptops help us do business better by mobilizing our workforce and making high-value information—yours, your clients', or both—available anywhere at any time.

But this combination of mobility and availability heightens risk and demands heightened vigilance.

What Is the Risk?

In 2004, an estimated 1.5 million laptops were stolen worldwide. Today, that number has climbed to 2.6 million—a 70% increase in just a few years.

That's one stolen laptop every 12 seconds.

Whose Laptops?

Business travelers are far and away the likeliest victims of laptop loss or theft. According to "Airport Insecurity: The Case of Lost Laptops," a 2008 Ponemon Institute study, business travelers lose more than 12,000 laptops per week at U.S. airports alone.

The greatest threat is data breach. Every day, business organizations and people travel with private, sensitive, or confidential data—personnel records, intellectual property such as software code, confidential organizational information, and consumer or customer data.

More than half of business travelers report that their laptops contain sensitive data; 65% of these say they do not take security measures to protect this data. According to a 2007 Ponemon study, in a two-year period, 73% of corporations had experienced the theft or loss of a data-bearing asset—laptop, portable drive, etc.

Where Are Laptops Lost or Stolen?

Airports, hotels, and cars are the most common places laptops are lost or stolen. The 12,000 laptops lost or stolen just at U.S. airports per week represent more than one laptop lost or stolen every minute. Of these, only 33% are reclaimed.

How Are Laptops Lost or Stolen?

You've heard the urban (i.e., airport) legend—the hand reaching over the stall door and grabbing the strap of your laptop case while you're indisposed. It does happen, but the more common scenario is the business traveler who, in the rush to get through security or catch a flight, simply leaves a laptop in the terminal—the easiest and "safest" possible mark for a practiced thief.

At What Cost?

When it comes to laptop loss or theft, it's ultimately your wallet at risk. The Ponemon Institute's 2008 "Cost of a Data Breach" study estimates that a data breach costs $202 per record breached. In 2008, according to a Verizon Business report, a record 285 million records were compromised. The math is staggering.

You can learn more about the high costs of laptop theft and loss on our Costs page.

What Can You Do?

Protecting your laptop has never been more important. We encourage you to learn about the risks and costs – and about the proven, multi-layer security of MyLaptopGPS.

Encrypt data. Prevent theft. Track stolen laptops. Destroy compromised files—remotely and covertly.