FOI Request Reveals BBC Lost 785 Laptops, Mobiles And Tablets

A freedom of information (FOI) request has revealed that the BBC has lost 785 tablets, laptops and mobiles during the last three years.

Laptops were the item most at risk, with 399 lost or stolen between 2010 and 2012, closely followed by mobiles with 357 and tablets with 39.

The BBC said that the average cost for each laptop or tablet was £1,500 and between £100 and £300 per mobile. The equipment is leased to the BBC and the price includes the cost of the leasing service and support charges.

BBC FOI request

“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,” said Tyler Shields, Senior Security Researcher, Veracode. “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.”

Earlier this week, Veracode released its State of Software Security Report, which warned that the technology’s industry’s inability to reduce security flaws was giving rise to casual hackers who can exploit application vulnerabilities with minimum technical skills.

Last month, another FOI request by the security firm revealed that the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) lost 83 BlackBerry smartphones and 17 laptops during the last three years.

BIS is not the first government department to have problems keeping track of its gadgets. The Ministry of Defence admitted that it had lost 340 laptops between 2008 and 2010, while the Welsh government lost £21,000 worth of equipment during the same period.

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