An incredible twelve thousand laptops a week are left or lost in US airports, with most companies not even bothering to report the losses, according to a new study.
The figures are revealed in a Dell-sponsored study of 106 major U.S. airports and 800 business travellers this week, undertaken by the Ponemon Institute.
Extrapolating beyond reason
The study claims that only 30 per cent of laptops lost in US airports are recovered and that half of business travellers laptops contain private and confidential customer data.
Larry Ponemon, Chairman of the Ponemon Institute, claims that an incredible 600,000 laptops are lost in U.S. airports annually, noting: "IT departments must re-evaluate the steps they're taking to protect mobile professionals, the laptops they carry, and company data stored on mobile devices."
Colour us cynical
Colour us cynical, but TechRadar suggests that one has to raise a single slightly cynical eyebrow at the way in which the results of a survey of 800 business travellers can be extrapolated into the claim that over half a million laptops are lost in US airports each year – clearly this figure is far higher than the real figure.
However, the survey seems to have achieved some of its purpose, in that it has got Dell's recently launched Prosupport Mobility Services (which Dell claims can help you protect your employee's laptops and keep that confidential company information secure).
