Vendor-Tech

Operational Excellence with Technology

Lost Your Laptop?

I came very close to losing my laptop last year.

I was returning from London via Chicago O'Hare. After clearing customs at the international terminal, I took the shuttle train to terminal 1 to catch my flight to Denver. I took the laptop out of my backpack for security. Somehow I got distracted, because I didn't put it back. Fortunately I noticed when I went to check email at the C concourse Red Carpet Club. So a quick jog back to B and a talk with the TSA got me my notebook back.

I was luck. Apparently not everyone is.

In the first half of 2008, the Ponemon Institute surveyed 106 United States airports and over 800 business travelers to understand the frequency with which laptops are lost in airports and the steps business travelers are taking to protect sensitive information on corporate systems. The results of the report are staggering:

  • Up to 12,000 laptops are lost in United States airports each week
  • Between 65 and 70 percent of lost laptops are never reclaimed
  • Most laptops are lost at security checkpoints
  • 53 percent of business travelers surveyed carry sensitive corporate information on their laptop
  • 65 percent of those who carry confidential information have not taken steps to protect it while traveling
  • 42 percent of respondents say they do not back up their data

During my chat with the nice TSA people, they mentioned a really, really simple suggestion. Put my name and address on the bottom of my notebook:

They also mentioned they had booted up my notebook to see if they could identify me. Since Homeland Security has stated they can search any traveler's notebook data, you might also want to make sure you a) don't have stuff you don't want found and b) that anything important is backed up since they might detain your notebook.

The whole Dell/Ponemon Study is interesting, you should read it.