'Staff lax about laptop security'
Updated on 18 April 2007
Employees have a dangerously relaxed attitude towards security on their laptops, according to new research.
The survey among 750 consumers and business users suggested that 29 million workers in the UK were "walking security hazards" according to its sponsors, SafeBoot, a leading data encryption specialist.
It showed that nearly half of the respondents had security on their laptop but had no idea how to use it. Nearly one-quarter of the people questioned had lost their laptop or had it stolen and over 25% said they did not see the point of shredding documents.
"This suggests that 29 million workers in the UK are walking security hazards and shows why the Home Office has calculated the cost of identity theft to the British economy has been some £1.62 billion during the past three years," a spokesman for the company said.
Tom de Jongh, encryption and security specialist at SafeBoot, said: "This makes disturbing reading for organisations that let their employees walk out of the office every day with a company laptop under their arm.
"It also raises the question about whether companies are doing enough to encourage their employees to understand the security on their laptops and educate them about the consequences if safety is breached or compromised."
Mr de Jongh said there was also a worrying level of indifference to credit card identity theft, with 44% saying they did not worry about it "because it would never happen to them".
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