What do the U.S. state department, the British military and the FBI have in common? Each of these security-centric organizations has recently lost laptops with sensitive information.

The cost of losing a laptop can be much greater than the $2,000 or so spent on the hardware. Gartner estimates laptop loss or theft costs a company more than $6,000 per incident — and that doesn't even account for the value of whatever data may have been lost or the liability that the loss might create for the company.

Many cheap devices on the market can help prevent laptop theft. Kensington Technology Group makes one of the best-known, the Micro Saver lock, which sells for about $45. The MicroSaver's cable attaches to a tiny hole on the side of the laptop and latches the machine to a desk or whatever other furniture is nearby, just like locking a bike to a bike rack. Kryptonite, which got its start in bike locks, makes a similar lock for laptops.

But despite the fact that 95 percent of laptops are equipped for such locks, only 10 locks are sold for every 100 laptops purchased, says Cathie Smithers, Kensington's senior security product manager. "It seems today everyone knows about complicated technologies like encryption and firewalls, but something simple like cables gets overlooked," she says.

Kensington has also developed the SonicLock, a motion-detection device that attaches to a laptop and can sense when it's being moved. Lexent Technologies makes a competing pro duct for business travelers called iSpy.

Another company, Caveo Technology, has developed a system that detects when a laptop is taken beyond a given range. A user can set up a 100-foot diameter around a certain point, and a 110-decibel siren will sound if the laptop is taken out of that range. Caveo's device — expected to be widely available early next year — is the only antitheft product on the market that slides into a laptop's PC Card slot instead of attaching to the machine's exterior. It shuts down the computer and prevent it from rebooting if it senses unauthorized access.

If these preventive measures don't work, there are other steps a company can take to protect its electronic assets even when a laptop is in someone else's possession. Several services — such as those offered by Absolute Software's Computrace, Loss Prevention Services' LapTrak, Lucira and zTrace Technologies — can track a laptop's location after it's been lost or stolen. These services typically cost $50 per laptop per year.

Once a stolen laptop is connected to the Internet, hidden software communicates back to the provider's data center and the laptop is traced.

With IT budgets being pared, com panies are looking at ways to better protect laptops, says Gartner senior analyst Mark Marge vi sius. "They can't afford to lose that equipment."

1.2 million: The number of laptops reported lost or stolen by U.S. companies in 2000, a 33 percent increase over 1999

Source: Safeware

$62,000: The average yearly cost to a company in hardware and lost productivity because of misplaced or stolen laptops

Source: Computer Security Institute/FBI 2001 study

10: The number of cable locks sold for every 100 laptops sold in the U.S.

Source: Kensington Technology Group

Copyright (c) 2001 Ziff-Davis Inc. All Rights Reserved.