Lost Laptops Cost More Than Inconvenience

February 20th, 2007: A sentence that UK’s Nationwide won’t forget any time soon after copping a fine of close to £1 million from the FSA over a stolen laptop.

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) fined Nationwide a total of £980,000 (AUD$2.43m) for information security lapses a laptop was stolen from an employee's home last year. On top of this, Nationwide also incurred significant costs informing its customers of the exposure of their data.

The fine shows that responsibility for data security falls squarely in the lap of the company, and with many simple, inexpensive and even free data encryption products available, there is no longer any excuse for mobile company data to put at risk.

"It really is very easy and economical for companies to protect data on their laptops using encryption software,” says Ian Kilpatrick, chairman of security company Wick Hill. Kilpatrick cites solutions by security firm Utimaco costing as little as £75 (AUD$186) per device, however, there are also a number of open source solutions out there to encrypt mobile data.

“With the ever-increasing use of laptops out of the office, their vulnerability to theft, and the availability now of low-cost security solutions, it is time for companies to take the leap to securing laptops,” added Kilpatrick. “By doing so, they not only protect key data from potential exposure, but also meet their regulatory obligations.”

While laws in Australia differ from those in the UK and US where businesses are by law responsible for safeguarding personal information, the loss of company data and indeed reputation can be a significant blow well before fines are imposed.

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