USB Drives Dropped Off With Laundry: Whole New Meaning For "Clean Data"

9,000 USB drives were left in clothes dropped at UK dry cleaners last year. With numbers that high, you can bet that some, and maybe most, of those drives held private, sensitive, confidential data.Data protection company Credant Technologies took a look, recently, at just how easy it is to forget about digital devices. And once forgotten, to leave them behind.

Like in your pockets when you drop your clothes off at the dry cleaners. According to Credant's survey, 9,000 USB drives and memory sticks were left in UK laundries last year alone.

If you're taking a taxi to the cleaners (as opposed to being taken to the cleaners by your taxi's fare; sorry) you're liable to leave digital goodies in the back seat: Credant surveyed cab drivers in New York City and London last September, and found that more 12000 devices -- everything from memory sticks to iPods to laptops -- were left in cabs every six months.

In addition to being a reminder of the importance of data encryption (which is, after all, one the things Credant sells,)the survey offers a good starting point for reminding everyone in your business who carries a mobile device, or transports data, or, I guess, gets their clothes cleaned regularly, to check their pockets before checking their clothes into the wash.