With the increasing use of mobile devices, we want to issue guidelines with regards to staff responsibilities about protecting the information on them. A staff member recently had her laptop stolen and we feel it would be prudent to ask her to submit a report regarding the type of information she had stored on it so we can make an assessment with regards to privacy, data protection etc and whether we need to inform people that personal information may have been inappropriately released. We are also questioning whether she should claim for this on her own insurance as she had been careless with its storage. Advice on this would be welcome.

The protection of information contained on mobile devices is a growing issue as more and more employees are provided with such devices in the course of their employment. Employers are advised to issue a policy or guidelines to employees in relation to the appropriate use of such devices and their responsibility to ensure that they are securely stored. Such a policy might include the following points:

* A company-issued mobile device is deemed company property and each employee issued with such a device has a duty to use it responsibly and professionally.

* Employees are responsible for the security of a mobile device, regardless of whether the device is used in the office, at the employee’s