BBC Reports Over 170 Devices Lost or Stolen

The BBC has recently reported the stolen or lost devices which are around 170 these are lost or stolen for about two years; it is highlighting the challenges which are associated with managing a large portion of mobile workforce.

Think tank Parliament Street has submitted Freedom of Information requests to national broadcaster that revealed around 81 devices that are lost and rest of which 91 were stolen over the past two financial years.

These stolen or lost devices include the laptops, mobile phones and tablets, these all costs around £109,000. Eighty mobile phones, 82 laptops which include MacBooks and high-end HP EliteBooks, eight iPads and even two desktop computers were apparently lost or stolen.

“The BBC employs about 20,000 people and the number of items lost or stolen is relatively small, however, it is regrettably inevitable some items will occasionally go missing,” read a statement from the corporation. “The BBC takes incidents of crime seriously and was are constantly implementing and reviewing measure to reduce the crime and recover lot and stolen items.”

The experts have also explained that in the latest GDPR era, the encryption is must.

“Encryption is one of the few technical controls explicitly called out by GDPR, as its proper use means that device loss is purely the loss of a physical asset, as opposed to the more serious loss of the information, which leads to reporting requirements and potential fines,” Becrypt CEO, Bernard Parsons.

“Choosing an encryption solution for laptops that has some form of third party validation, such as NCSC assurance, allows an organization to confidently address both risks and liabilities. But equally important is that technology does not inhibit user experience. Poorly implemented security leads to user bypass, such as passwords on stick it notes, that can actually increase an organization’s risks. NCSC have some great guidance on appropriate password policies that balance security with user needs.”

He also added that the mobile device management platform should to adopt to enforce the mobile policies like the screen-lock and remote wipe in the event of the loss or theft.

“Organization that are higher-threat targets need also to be aware that lost devices can be used to carry out subsequent attacks on the company’s networks, particularly as many organizations host MDM servers outside of their more secure networks,” Parsons concluded.