Dry cleaners employees also found a dead rat...

Jan 14, 2016 15:30 GMT  ·  By

One of the biggest security risks is related to lost devices holding sensitive information. This may include laptops, smartphones, portable hard drives, smartphones, and tablets.

According to a survey conducted by ESET's Irish branch, in the UK alone, dry cleaner employees found 22,266 USB memory sticks and 973 smartphones in 2015 alone.

What's worse is that 45% of these devices never get returned to their owners, for various reasons, either intentionally or by accident.

This means that around 10,000 USBs that often hold sensitive business information may end up in the wrong hands, of someone willing to blackmail companies or sell them on the black market, to hackers or competitors.

And don't think that the nearly 1,000 lost smartphones are secure just because you can protect them with a password. If someone knows that a handset can hold sensitive information that may be worth more than the phone itself, it's safe to say that they are capable of finding a way to go around your password.

Besides the security risks posed by lost USBs and smartphones, the survey, which included data from 500 dry cleaners across the UK, also made the researchers chuckle. Apparently, besides smartphones and USB sticks, UK dry cleaners also reported some of the weirdest things they found in customers’ clothes and pockets - a list of items that includes lots of Viagra pills, a full spectrum of condoms, dentures, lasagna, and a dead rat.