Author: Ian Betteridge
Date: 03/10/2008
New research from BT reveals that some handheld device owners are letting sensitive data walk out of the building
After the recent spate of news stories about people losing laptops and CDs with highly-sensitive data on them, most people in business are probably a little more careful about where they leave their laptop. But there are other ways you can let sensitive data get into the wrong hands - without actually losing anything.
New research from BT, the University of Glamorgan in Wales and Edith Cowan University in Australia has revealed that a significant number of hand-held communication devices which are bought second-hand still contain sensitive company and personal information.
The survey of over 160 used gadgets found a range of information including salary details, financial company data, bank account details, sensitive business plans, details of board meetings and personal medical details.
The devices containing the greatest volume of information were discarded BlackBerrys, which in a number of cases were left completely unprotected despite having security features like encryption built in.
In one example, a BlackBerry was examined that had been used by the sales director for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) of a major Japanese corporation. It was possible to recover the call history, the address book, the diary and the messages from the device and the information that was contained in these provided the business plan of the organisation for the next period, the identification of the main customers and the state of the relationships with them, and even bank account details!
The lesson is simple: mobile tools like the BlackBerry and Office Anywhere deliver a great deal of benefit to business. But when you upgrade, make sure they are securely wiped - and don't let them leave the building until this is done.