Via Axcess News:

A survey released today reveals that in the last year, 4,500 memory sticks have been forgotten in people’s pockets as they take their clothes to be washed at the local dry cleaners.   From 6th April onwards if data is lost and it causes a major security breach, this could now cost a company up to £500k with new powers given to the Information Commissioner’s office (ICO) to fine companies who have not sufficiently protected customers details under the Data Protection Act.

This is actually an improvement compared to last year’s survey, which hopefully means that security awareness is improving.  It’s still an awfully large number of flash drives, though, and there is no telling what kind of data is on them.  Given today’s large storage capacities, a memory stick could contain an entire database.  Wouldn’t you want the power to remotely delete a lost drive before it turns up at the dry cleaner?

Data Security, Portable Storage