Study Finds USB Flash Drives Frequently Get Left Behind
Posted on January 30, 2010
USB Flash drives and other portable data storage devices are often accidentally forgotten. A study by Credant Technologies found that in the past twelve months in Britain, 4,500 memory sticks were forgotten in people's pockets as they took their clothes to be washed at the local dry cleaners.
The survey was carried out in the UK to gauge the frequency and ease with which mobile devices, such as USB and memory sticks, are lost or forgotten in strange places such as dry cleaners.
Sean Glynn, vice president and chief marketing officer at Credant Technologies, says, "Although this study shows a positive drop in the number of lost memory sticks we would urge users to take more care than ever not to download unprotected customer details and other sensitive information that if lost could lead to a security breach, especially now there are harsh fines afoot."
Sean Glynn also says, "This survey is just one illustration of the stark truth that device losses are happening everywhere, everyday, worldwide. Organisations want to leverage the business benefits of mobile computing and provide their employees the flexibility to work wherever and whenever they want to. However, this must be balanced with the requirement of protecting the organisations data, especially to avoid penalties - such as that promised by the ICO, brand damage or even embarrassing press headlines. If sensitive or valuable data is being carried then people should protect it with encryption to prevent unauthorised access at any point - as it could easily end up in the wrong hands."
A previous study conducted by Credant Technologies found that over 12,500 handheld devices such as laptops, iPods and memory sticks are forgotten at the back of taxis in London and New York every 6 months. USB Flash drives often contain sensitive information so people should do their very best not to forget them.