If you do much flying with your laptop computer be especially vigilant when at the airport. According to a study released in late June a huge number of laptop/notebook computers are reporting lost every week at airports across the US. In a report entitled “Airport Insecurity: The Case of Missing and Lost Laptops” by the Ponemon Institute for Dell Computers close to 10,300 laptops are reported lost every week at 36 of the largest U.S. airports, and 65 percent of those laptops are not reclaimed.
In addition, almost 2,000 laptops are recorded lost each week at the medium-sized airports, and 69 percent are not reclaimed. This amounts to over 637,000 laptops lost each year at the largest and medium-sized U.S. airports.
Points of Greatest Danger for Laptop Theft
The most common points where laptops go missing according to this study are at: security checkpoints (40%), departure gates (23%), and restrooms (9%). The report stated the only 33% of laptops within the Lost and Found departments at airports are actually claimed, with the remaining 67% being disposed of by the airports.
