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Financial Workers Regularly Forget USB Sticks at Dry Cleaners

As data loss reaches an all time high, a new survey shows financial workers in the UK are regularly forgetting USB sticks at the dry cleaners.

As data loss reaches an all time high, a new survey shows financial workers in the UK are regularly forgetting USB sticks at the dry cleaners.

According to a survey by Texas-based data security firm Credant Technologies, 9,000 USB sticks were forgotten in people's pockets in the UK last year as they took their clothes to the local dry cleaners.

Financial workers in the City of London are particularly forgetful: one dry cleaner in the heart of the financial district said he is getting an average of 1 USB stick every two weeks, while another said he had found at least 80 in the last year.The survey was based on phone interviews with 500 dry cleaners across the UK. Credant said it should be a warning to the business community across the globe to be vigilant when downloading information to carry around with them as it does frequently get lost .

It is particularly important, the company said, since many USB devices now have the capacity to store as much as 10,000 Word documents, 500,000 contact details or 1.1 million emails, making them an obvious target for identity theft criminals and hackers who can steal this information and assume the identity of the user both in their personal or business life. "Although we conducted this survey in the UK, the idea was to show people everywhere how easy it is to lose data, even in their local dry cleaners and that none of us are infallible. We're convinced if we were to do the same survey in the US we'd get very similar results," Michael Callahan, svp and chief marketing officer at Credant Technologies said in a release.

"If the data is sensitive or valuable then people should protect this information with encryption so no-one can access the data at any point - as it could easily end up in the wrong hands," he added.As data loss reaches an all time high, a new survey shows financial workers in the UK are regularly forgetting USB sticks at the dry cleaners. Melanie Rodier has worked as a print and broadcast journalist for over 10 years, covering business and finance, general news, and film trade news. Prior to joining Wall Street & Technology in April 2007, Melanie lived in Paris, where she worked for the International Herald ... View Full Bio

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