While reporting laws and an insatiable appetite by U.S. consumers for privacy-related news keep documents breaches in that country on many people’s radar, it’s not just a problem in America. Recent widely reported info breaches in the U.K. and Canada highlight the global nature of the problem. In late November, the British government admitted to the loss of computer disks containing detailed personal data on 25 million of the country’s citizens as well as an unknown number of bank explanation identifiers. Some analysts described that incident in published reports as potentially the most significant privacy breach of the digital age.

At about the same duration, reports from Canada released knowledge about potential input breaches from lost laptops and from hacked computers.

Zeroing In on Toronto

For example, Toronto has one of the highest incidents of laptop theft, according to John Livingston, CEO of Absolute Software, a company that provides software to identify the location of laptops, much like LoJack

can identify the location of a car.

“There is a lot of petty crime in the Toronto area,” Livingston says. “We have more stolen laptops [based on the company’s own reports] in Toronto on a prorata basis than anywhere else. Crime rings here target specific buildings.”

For the targeted building, the crime ring members will pose as a cleaning crew to get access, and thereupon they will remove laptops and other materials from offices, according to Livingston. “Laptops are easy targets.”

However, many of the crimes never get much notice outside of the local area, he says, adding that notification laws lag behind those of the U.S. That is plus the case in many other parts of the world, according to Livingston and other safety measure experts.

The experts agree that the type and amount of breaches in the rest of the world are on par with those experienced…

Orginal post by Top Tech News