Two laptops are lost on the tube every day, says TfL

Two laptops are lost or misplaced every day on the London Underground, according to new figures from Transport for London (TfL).

More than 3,500 laptops have been reported lost in the last five years, according to data obtained by memory and storage company Crucial, representing an increase of almost 80 per cent since 2010.

In addition to this, more than 800 laptops have been reported missing at major Network Rail stations, including Kings Cross, Birmingham New Street and Glasgow.

Losing work devices poses a serious security risk to enterprises, Crucial warned, because they can contain sensitive or business-critical information that can easily be exploited by cybercriminals.

"The data from Transport for London and Network Rail is only giving us a glimpse of the data security issue in the UK," said Jonathan Weech, Crucial's senior product manager for SSDs.

"Consider also the number of laptops that have been hacked and it really starts to demonstrate how vulnerable our data really is, and how easily it can get into the wrong hands."

Weech highlighted the importance of taking as many steps as possible to protect your information, saying "self-encrypting hardware can keep your confidential data out of the reach of hackers and data thieves".

"Comparing software-based encryption and hardware-based encryption is like comparing a padlock to a vault," he explained. "When it comes to data security hardware-based encryption is a much stronger option for protecting data than software-based encryption, or worst of all, no encryption."