Smartphone and tablet users in Leeds are almost three times more likely to have their smartphones and tablets stolen than elsewhere in the UK, according to device insurer Protect Your Bubble.
The firm’s latest stats show that 28.6% of claims made in the northern city are for theft, as opposed to 11.9% in Belfast, which came in second.
London was in third place, with 11.3% of claims being for device theft, Protect Your Bubble said.
Also marked out as device theft blackspots were Preston (10.7%), Salford (9.1%) and Bradford (8.8%), with Brighton (7.8%), Milton Keynes (7.6%), Manchester (7.2%) and Northampton (7%) rounding out the top 10.
Swansea dwellers are least likely to have their phone stolen, with just 1.6% of claims coming as a result of theft, followed by Newcastle (1.8%), Derby (2.7%) and Wolverhampton (2.9%).
The average for the UK as a whole is 6.4%.
The stats are concerning given the trend of BYOD, which could see sensitive corporate data exposed in the event of device theft.
Worryingly, some 14% of devices in the report were stolen from the owner’s workplace – although pubs and bars were the most common venue for smartphone/tablet theft (25%).
Unsurprisingly, those aged 16-24 were most likely to have their handsets stolen.
Of those nicked from individuals, most were nabbed from coat pockets (26%), people’s hands (12%) and back pockets (12%).
The research is based on an analysis of almost 30,000 mobile phone and tablet insurance claims between October 2014 and March 2015.
Nearly half of IT executives interviewed by Check Point for its 2014 Mobile Security Report claimed that security incidents related to mobile devices cost their organization in excess of $250,000 to remediate.
In addition, some 82% said they expect the situation to get worse in 2015.
Mobile device management tools can help mitigate the risk of corporate data falling into the wrong hands, by ensuring there’s remote data wipe, encryption and password lock functionality on all personal smartphones and tablets used for work.