The British Computer Society (BCS) is urging us all to take more care when travelling with portable devices. An advertising campaign has been launched in order to heighten awareness, focusing on the data loss black spot of London. In a recent article at Info Security, BCS Chief Executive David Clarke compared leaving your phone or laptop in a public area to giving a criminal the keys to your front door.

The campaign will target taxicabs as they are the areas most frequently associated with portable device loss. Last year an estimated 55000 phones were abandoned in the back of taxicabs, on top of a further 6000 items and other devices. According to BCS research, the most at risk group is comprised of young, single businesspeople and professionals. However, the recent data loss mistakes by more senior staff such as MI5’s Assistant Commissioner Bob Quick and others suggests that there can be exceptions to this rule. Continue reading →