Careless commuters put corporate data at risk

Almost 5,000 laptops and over 60,000 mobile phones were left in the back of London's black taxis by forgetful passengers in the last six months, according to a new survey.

The Taxi survey – 2005 was carried out by the Licensed Taxi Drivers Association and mobile security firm Pointsec among 131 of the capital's 24,000 licensed taxi drivers.

Based on the survey responses, Pointsec estimates that 63,135 mobile phones, 5,838 pocket PCs and PDAs and 4,973 laptops were left in the back of cabs during the second half of last year in London.

That represents a staggering increase in the number of mobile devices lost since the survey was last carried out in 2001 with a 71 per cent increase in laptops and 350 per cent increase in pocket PCs – although the number of lost mobile phones has risen by less than two per cent during that period.

Fortunately for London's forgetful commuters most of these items are reunited with their owners, with 96 per cent of laptops and 80 per cent of mobile phones returned.

Film star Hugh Grant's latest squeeze Jemima Khan was one of the thousands of people who have left items in cabs - a London taxi driver returned her iPod, mobile phone and purse.

On a more serious note, Pointsec warned that with the ever increasing memory capacity of mobile devices the information stored on those lost represents a potential back door to corporate IT networks and leaves forgetful travellers open to identity theft.

Magnus Ahlberg, managing director of Pointsec, said in a statement: "Mobile users are in a worse position now, because they are far more reliant on using their mobile devices to store massive amounts of sensitive information, with very few concerned about backing it up or protecting it."

The Licensed Taxi Drivers Association said many cab drivers will try and personally return items if there is an address or contact details with it; otherwise, property found in the back of taxis is handed to the Metropolitan Police who forward it to Transport for London's central lost property office.

Taxis, however, are not the only places where careless commuters are prone to leaving laptops and other mobile devices. Transport for London, which covers London Underground and London buses, said it handled 10,614 lost mobile phones and 5,718 electronic items including cameras and laptops in the last year.

Heathrow Airport said that around three to four laptops are handed into its lost property department each week along with up to 10 mobile phones per day, although most are reclaimed by the original owners.