Leader: Return of the lost laptops

A new survey once again flags up the issue that laptops and mobile phones left in the back of taxis and on public transport are a risk to confidential personal and corporate data - and a possible source of identity theft.

The two groups responsible for the poll, the Licensed Taxi Drivers Association of London and IT security firm Pointsec, presented some impressive figures to back up the claim: 63,135 mobile phones and 4,973 laptops were lost in London cabs over the last six months.

But the shocking figures aren't quite what they seem. The survey was carried out among just 131 London cabbies, with their responses extrapolated across the 24,000 licensed taxi drivers to come up with the estimates. It's worth noting here that London's public transport agency Transport for London says it only received 10,614 lost mobile phones for the entire year.

Delving further into the stats, it seems even if you leave your phone or laptop in the back of a licensed cab in London, you're pretty likely to get it back - 96 per cent of laptops and 80 per cent of mobiles were reunited with their forgetful owners. (Remember, though, the research was done on black cabs - we're betting the stats aren't quite as good for minicabs.)

But the research suggested this was down to the good old-fashioned honesty of cab drivers and warned you might not be as lucky if you left your gadgets at an airport.

To test the claim, silicon.com called up London's Heathrow Airport. The airport said out of around 50,000 items of lost property handed in each year, there are approximately 200 laptops and 3,500 mobile phones. And how many are reunited with the owners? "Almost all of them," said a Heathrow spokesman.

While the loss of laptops containing confidential data can potentially put personal and corporate data at risk, IT security companies using the 'fear, uncertainty, doubt' (FUD) tactics to scare buyers risk crying wolf.

The research essentially disputes its own fear-inducing claims by revealing that even if you leave your laptop or phone in the back of a licensed cab, the chances are it will be returned intact. Nevermind the fact that if you use a basic system and set-up password and back up your hard drive, your laptop and its data should be fairly secure wherever you end up leaving it... although of course we wouldn't advise trying it out.