Losing 1,137 Laptops: No Big Deal! Losing 1 Laptop: Big Deal!!

It seems that the last few days have been a time for both US and UK governments. However, the US government officials are not that much concerned about the theft of 1,137 Laptops. They are on a relaxed mood. On the other hand, officials of the police department of Britain got so much concerned about the loss of just one laptop computer that they changed their security arrangements.

The Department of Commerce of US, out of their 30,000 laptops, has lost 1,137. This STOLEN INFORMATION came out after the congress pressurized the Department of Commerce. According to the report published in arstechnica, from 2001 till now, the Department of Commerce has lost 3.8% of its machines. This includes laptops, handheld devices and thumb drives. Ironically, most of the stolen machines belonged to the Census Bureau (YES!! You are right the organization who keeps track of population!!). The field employees who were hired on temporary basis were given a laptop to collect data. After the completion of the work, these people did not return their laptop computers. The bureau office did not feel the necessity to keep the names and addresses of those workers.

At least the good thing is that the data inside the laptops did not leak. The field workers collected information on people. These includes various sensitive data like social security numbers and other things. Once the data was entered, it cannot be reopened. The census office collected the data and erased it from the laptops. Such security measures saved the bureau from further embarrassment.

On the other hand, the police department of Britain had to change their security arrangements after one of their laptops containing security measures of the upcoming labor party conference went missing. The laptop was stolen from a car belonging to a member of the armed force.

Both the Ministry of Defense and police inquired the whole situation and reviewed the security arrangements. They have assured the press that they know what type of information the laptop contained and what part of the security arrangement should be changed. They already brought changes in their security plans.

So you see that one laptop is more important than one thousand. That is why NEVER JUDGE A LAPTOP BY IT'S LOOK BUT BY WHAT IT HAS!!!