BBC Admits To 146 Missing Laptops In Two Years

The BBC has admitted that more than £241,019 worth of laptops, mobile and smartphones have been lost or stolen over the last two years.

The announcement was in response to a Freedom of Information request from an IT security company – Absolute Software – which just happens to sell “solutions” for recovering lost or stolen laptops.

The BBC equipment stolen or lost during the period from April 2008 to March this year included 146 laptops, 65 mobile phones and 17 BlackBerrys. The missing laptops had been valued at £219,000, the mobile phones at £12,913 and the Blackberrys at £9,106, according to BBC reports.

Risk Of Theft

Commenting on the equipment losses, a BBC spokesperson told the corporation’s news website that the organisation had taken “measures” to keep devices safe and secure. “The portability of laptops and phones means that, in any large organisation, there is an inevitable risk of theft,” the spokesperson said. “The BBC investigation service is involved whenever an allegation of theft is made, and where appropriate the police are informed and prosecutions brought where we can.”

Absolute Software’s European general manager Dave Everitt said that, given that license payers ultimately fund any equipment purchases by the BBC, staff should be a lot more careful. “It is shocking that any organisation could lose so much equipment, but the BBC is just one of many we’ve seen recently, proving it’s all too common,” he said.  “In this case, however, this technology is paid for by the licence payer and employees should be far more careful about how they handle it.”

Absolute specialises in software and tracking services to help secure laptops and other mobile hardware. The company provides regular updates on how its software has helped to recover lost or stolen machines. “Caught red-handed, the unauthorised user of this stolen laptop claimed innocence – he didn’t know it was stolen when he bought it from a stranger for $60,” the company stated. “Talk about a steal… Given the laptop was just months old and valued at over $800, police felt our user should have known better – so recovered the laptop, and charged him with possession of stolen property.”

Promotion or advertising is forbidden by the BBC’s charter, but Absolute Software has managed to get around this by using an FOI request to highlight the issue of laptop theft and get a nice plug for its services in the process on the BBC news site.

MOD Losses Via FOI

Coincidentally, the Ministry of Defence recently admitted that it had lost 340 laptops during a two year period from 2008 to 2010. The news came to light in response to a Freedom of Information request by Lewis PR – the agency which also represents Absoulte Software.

The MoD said that 120 laptops at a cost of £1,800 each were stolen. Another 220 laptops were lost and only 25 were ever recovered. Less than half (157 laptops) had data which had been encrypted.

Crime prevention minister James Brokenshire announced a new code of practice at the end of July in an effort to clamp down on stolen phones being sold to unsuspecting recycling firms.