Over 90 per cent of IT security professionals revealed that a member of their organization had a laptop stolen or lost, a recent study said.

Sevin in the of laptops that were lost or stolen caused a data breach. Fifty-six percent of non-IT business managers say they turn off encryption on their laptop, according to a study by Absolute Software Corporation and The Ponemon Institute.

"The data suggests that, because of user behavior, encryption alone is not enough to protect mobile devices and the sensitive data stored on them," said Dr. Larry Ponemon, chairman and founder of The Ponemon Institute. "These statistics are especially disconcerting when combined with our recent studies demonstrating that lost or stolen laptops are the number one cause of data loss, with three out of four companies experiencing a data breach when a laptop has been lost or stolen."

Other statistics included in the study were:

• 45 per cent of organization could prove that contents of missing laptops were encrypted;
• 52 per cent of business managers, who have access to sensitive data have employer-provided encryption;
• 57 per cent of business managers keep a written record or share with others their encryption password;
• Only four per cent of IT managers share their password.

Security risks can be avoided by not relying solely on encryption and adding more security solutions.

"While encryption technology provides a high-degree of data protection, it must be complemented by additional security layers that are not dependent on the diligent behavior of corporate employees," John Livingston, chairman and CEO of Absolute Software said.

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