In another startlingly self-serving but amusing piece of research, Credant Technologies - the firm which provides endpoint data protection including encryption - has worked out that 9,000 USB sticks were left in people's pockets last year after they took their clothes to the dry cleaners.

Now guess what you can do to prevent this from being a problem? Well, invest in some encryption technology that would render the data left on a lost USB unreadable. Or perhaps assign endpoint data protection technology in your enterprise which would prevent users from downloading sensitive data to their USBs - both of which solutions presumably Credant sells.

The firm claims 9,000 USBs were lost last year; except they weren't really. It interviewed 500 dry cleaners, who on average found 2 USBs over the course of the year, and then extrapolated the figures out among the 4,500 dry cleaners operating in the country, according to the Textile Services Association.

This follows similar dubious research by the firm last September conducted amongst London cab drivers, which showed that 6,193 handheld devices such as laptops, iPods and memory sticks are forgotten at the back of taxis every six months. These figures were 'guesstimated' in the same way. Take ths story with a large handful of salt then ... but at least try and remember to empty your pockets before taking them to the cleaners.