A Freedom of Information Request filed by a software security firm with the BBC has revealed that staff misplaced 785 tablets, laptops and mobiles over the past three years.
The hemorrhaging of mobile equipment which has been either lost or stolen breaks down as 399 laptops, 357 mobiles and 39 tablets. The average cost of each of these devices has been put at £1,500 for a tablet or laptop and £200 per mobile, equating to £728k.
Commenting on the figures Tyler Shields, senior security researcher at Veracode, said: “The huge rise in mobile and tablet devices in the workplace means that staff are able to work from home and on the move, increasing productivity and collaboration. But increased mobility also opens up new risks for organisations due to vulnerabilities in applications that reside on these devices.
“To tackle this problem, it’s critical that businesses ensure that all devices are protected and secure, by identifying and fixing application vulnerabilities, to prevent malicious hackers from exploiting them.”