According to data obtained from the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and regional police forces in the UK, and presented at InfoSec 2014 by ViaSat, 17% of all thefts in the UK threaten victim privacy.
“If less than one percent of the devices stolen in burglaries or personal thefts contained any sensitive information, that is still a huge amount of potentially sensitive data in the wrong hands,” said Chris McIntosh, CEO of ViaSat UK.
At least 162,932 items of computing and communications equipment (desktops, laptops, tablets and smartphones )were stolen across the UK in the 12 months leading up to February 2014. As all of these devices contain valuable personal, and sometimes corporate, data, all of these devices put both consumers and organizations at risk.
Digital devices were stolen in 69% of all thefts from a person (muggings & pickpocketings) and 28% of all burglaries.
At an organizational level, the findings show that the number of data breaches reported to the ICO increased by 10% in 2014. Lost or stolen hardware (including all data device types) accounted for 9% of all breaches.
Consumers and organizations alike need to take data security seriously. Devices carry more information than ever before, information that can be used by cybercriminals in a myriad of ways: identity theft, fraud, phishing schemes, or corporate data theft (data breach). Our devices are a gateway to this information, both through stored data as well as through all the access points – network access, social media log-ins, and all the apps and websites where passwords may be stored.
To prevent unwanted access to valuable data on your devices, research how to set up all your devices to have basic data protections such as pass codes, encryption, and theft recovery software. For mobile devices, which are the devices most commonly stolen these days, learn how to set up your smartphone security features and brush up on more tips on how to prevent mobile theft and how to prevent laptop theft.
