Technology for dealing with lost laptops

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Due to this inherent problem, Donal Casey a security expert from Morse said pre-boot encryption was key, as it ensured the disc was encrypted constantly. "It can not be bypassed - even from another machine," he said.

However, encryption doesn't end with the laptop, Lowe added: "Then you need control over removable media, as the hard drive is only one storage medium on a laptop. Endpoint security should stop data being copied onto CDs, DVDs or USB devices. Port control solutions do this by automatically blocking a USB device that does not comply with the security policy, or prevent the transfer of certain files or file types."

Lowe added: "The really crucial is to do all this automatically, without user intervention, because this literally protects people and organisations from their own mistakes."

Legal side

While stories of stolen laptops and mislaid discs make excellent scandals, most laptops don't contain important information. "Lots of people carry laptops, and most don't have confidential customer information," said Guy Bunker, chief scientist at Symantec for EMEA.

Despite the high media profile, it's often low on the radar of executives. "[Security] is never high enough on the list - there's no massive business benefit. It's almost intangible," said Morse's Casey.

If laws in the UK head the way they have in parts of the US, then data breach legislation could drive more people to use encryption. "In the states, if you're encrypted you don't have to declare [data breaches]," Symantec's Bunker noted.

Either way, strict policies - backed up with employee education and clear repercussions - paired with data management and unavoidable encryption will keep most organisations out of deep trouble, should the inevitable happen and a laptop wanders off.

The key is to accept that it will happen and to plan for it, because as NEC's Farnworth noted, they're an easy win for criminals: "It's a lot easier to steal a laptop than filing cabinets with 600,000 files in them."

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