A survey, released today by data security specialist Credant Technologies, reveals that in the last year, 4,500 memory sticks have been left in pockets at the dry cleaner.
Sean Glynn, vice president and chief marketing officer at Credant, makes the point that, from 6 April, if data is lost and it causes a major security breach, the cost could be up to £500,000, as the Information Commissioner's office gets new powers.
Glynn agrees that it's good news that the figures for USB stick losses have halved, compared to last years, but adds that this is probably due to users downloading information onto smartphones and netbooks instead.
Although this study shows a positive drop in the number of lost memory sticks we would urge users to take more care than ever not to download unprotected customer details and other sensitive information that, if lost, could lead to a security breach, especially now there are harsh fines afoot."