A survey conducted by privacy thinktank the Ponemon Institute on behalf of Dell compared how seriously laptop security is taken by workers in the US, UK, France, Germany, Mexico and Brazil.

Failures of authentication were considered to be the most serious security threat in both the UK and US, closely followed by a failure to protect laptops while travelling.

The failure to use proper authentication was also considered by far the most serious threat to confidential data by respondents from Mexico and Brazil, followed by a failure to shred sensitive documents and sharing of passwords.

UK companies considered the loss of customer records to be the most devastating form of data loss, while France and Germany placed extremely high emphasis on employee records.

German respondents also have a strong conviction that the greatest value lies in the information not in the laptop itself: a mere 13% said the device was worth more than its contents. Intriguingly, 21% of German respondents said their companies had lost data because frustrated employees had taken out their anger on company-issued laptops.