Memory Sticks & Data Loss

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Yesterday CREDANT Technologies released a survey among 100 dry cleaners in the UK revealing in the last year 4,500 memory sticks have been forgotten in people’s pockets. The annual survey shows that the number of USB sticks compared to last year has declined by half.

The security folks at CREDANT theorize that the decline is likely a change in users’ habits as opposed to a significant breakthrough in people’s vigilance citing that users today are downloading information onto smartphones and netbooks, which have boomed in popularity in the last year. The company cautions that on the surface the decline may look good, but in actuality the data loss is now spreading across multiple devices.

Comments Sean Glynn, vice president and chief marketing officer at CREDANT, “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.” The company points to a new UK ruling beginning in April that if data is lost and causes a security breach users could be fined up to £500k.

The annual 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 and to warn people across the globe to demonstrate prudence when downloading information that is carried around, as it does frequently get lost. In previous studies conducted by CREDANT Technologies among taxi drivers in London and New York over 12,500 handheld devices such as laptops, iPods and memory sticks are forgotten at the back of taxis every 6 months.