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Laptop stolen at London security event
Irony knows no bounds: official...

By Dan Ilett

Published: Thursday 23 September 2004

Police are investigating a theft at the Gartner IT Security Summit after the laptop of one attendee was stolen from the exhibition in London.

The portable computer belongs to identity management firm Netegrity and was taken from behind the firm's stand on the vendor floor of the Summit held at the Hilton Metropole on Edgware Road.

The laptop bag was later discovered with all its contents except for the laptop.

A spokesman for Netegrity said: "You tend to think that people attending an event of that kind would not do something like that. [The salesman whose laptop was stolen] saw somebody suspicious who didn't look like one of the crowd and thought he should report it, but didn't."

The firm later reported the incident to the police, who are now investigating the matter.

A spokeswoman for Gartner said: "There was a personal briefcase stolen that went missing at the conference. [The police] are looking at CCTV to see if they can catch the culprit. People are urged to take care of their belongings."

Warnings about keeping tight-hold of laptops, especially work laptops which may contain sensitive information, have been rife in the security industry for years - but it would appear the message hasn't quite got through.

Dan Ilett writes for ZDNet UK