Laptop Lost or Stolen? Five Questions to Ask and Answer

BOSTON, MA--(Marketwire - March 16, 2010) - Aberdeen Group, a Harte-Hanks Company (NYSE: HHS), today released a new research study which found that for every 100 enterprise endpoints that go out, only 85 come back -- 5 are lost or stolen, 1 of these is successfully recovered, and 11 are missing and unaccounted for. The "Laptop Lost or Stolen? Five Questions to Ask and Answer" report notes that compared to all others in the study, the top performers realize $44 per endpoint in cost savings from reducing the net number of lost, stolen and missing endpoints, and tens of millions of dollars in costs are avoided by averting more than 2-times the number of data loss or data exposure incidents.

When the lost or stolen laptop happens to you -- and the chances are extremely good that it will -- there are five key questions to ask and answer: What happened? What assets are at risk? What protections were in place? Where is it now? And, can we prevent future occurrences? Aberdeen's research shows that the best practice is to protect against data loss or data exposure, by encrypting sensitive information, and by remotely destroying or "wiping" the data or remotely disabling or "killing" the platform. The top performers also reduce the number of endpoints that go lost, stolen or unaccounted for, by maintaining accurate asset tracking information and by leveraging anti-theft technologies to deter future occurrences.

"Companies have prioritized their investments based on cost avoidance from the potential loss or exposure of their sensitive data," said Derek E. Brink, vice president and research fellow for IT Security, Aberdeen Group. "But it's worth noting that the opportunity for concrete cost savings is also quite significant, based on a reduction in the net number of endpoints that are lost, stolen, or missing."

A complimentary copy of this report is made available in part by the following underwriters: Absolute Software, Intel Corporation, and WinMagic Inc. To obtain a complimentary copy of the report, visit: http://www.aberdeen.com/link/sponsor.asp?spid=30410182&cid=6443&camp2

For additional access to complimentary Information Technology research, please visit http://research.aberdeen.com/index.php/-information-technology

To view complimentary 30-minute webcasts highlighting findings from this and other Aberdeen IT Security research, visit http://www.brighttalk.com/channels/1209/view.

About Aberdeen Group, a Harte-Hanks Company

Aberdeen provides fact-based research and market intelligence that delivers demonstrable results. Having queried more than 30,000 companies in the past two years, Aberdeen is positioned to educate users to action: driving market awareness, creating demand, enabling sales, and delivering meaningful return-on-investment analysis. As the trusted advisor to the global technology markets, corporations turn to Aberdeen for insights that drive decisions.

As a Harte-Hanks Company, Aberdeen plays a key role of putting content in context for the global direct and targeted marketing company. Aberdeen's analytical and independent view of the "customer optimization" process of Harte-Hanks (Information - Opportunity - Insight - Engagement - Interaction) extends the client value and accentuates the strategic role Harte-Hanks brings to the market. For additional information, visit Aberdeen or call (617) 854-5200, or to learn more about Harte-Hanks, call (800) 456-9748.

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