EDISON Chen could have saved himself and his lovers much angst if only he'd been safe rather than scandalous - by using encryption.

The Hong Kong actor's sex photos with several celebrities were exposed and circulated on the Internet when he sent his Apple laptop for repairs.

His pictures would have been safe if he had encrypted private folders on his laptop, said IT expert Francis Teo, 49.

Mr Teo is channels manager for Asia of McAfee, which provides system, network and data security solutions.

Edison is not alone in his carelessness.

Mr Teo said: 'Most people, when they buy a handphone (or laptop), they don't think about their data being lost to unsavoury characters, which could impact their reputation.

'Edison should have protected his private folder by encrypting it. If he had done that, he could still have sent his laptop for repair but they would not have been able to access the private folder.'

With some high-profile cases of laptops being stolen or lost worldwide, the Government is concerned enough to look at ways to protect sensitive data, should any of its laptops be stolen or misplaced.

The chances of such a thing happening are high. More people are carrying mobile devices like handphones, PDAs, and laptops wherever they go.

The number of handphone subscribers among the three telcos here in June was 6.15 million - up from around 5.7m in the first quarter of this year.

Police statistics reveal that between January and June 2007, handphone thefts rose from 1,962 to 2,352.

McAfee and PCS Security, another local security company that handles government security contracts, is taking part in Governmentware 2008, presented by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), which began yesterday.

Their focus will be mobile security and secure offices.

PCS' sales manager, Ms Kwek Siew Min, 35, said recent high-profile cases of mobile devices being left behind have prompted many to take notice. No figures are available.

PCS provides the passport scanners at all checkpoints here, supplies homeland security technologies to the Government and conducts security audits and review of companies' IT infrastructures.

She said: 'In the past two to three months, there has been an increase in the number of enquiries by the Government on how to protect their laptops.'

Mr Teo added: 'They want to find easy solutions to protect their data so that if the information falls into the wrong hands, they will not be read.'

Data security

In June, the United Kingdom's Ministry of Defence found that its new recruits, whom it said belonged to the 'Facebook Generation', were not taking data security seriously, often exchanging information with great abandon.

When organisations don't protect their data on their mobile devices, and the devices get lost, public confidence in them will be lost, too, said Mr Teo.

He added: 'The public's impression of the company will be affected. To any company, brand reputation is a very important asset because it can affect your profit margin.

Often, said Mr Teo, the weakest link in the chain of security is the employee.

This is because they are either unaware or ignorant of their company's security standard operating procedure (SOP).

He added: 'And when new staff members join (the company), they are more susceptible to threats and security breaches. Because you have thousands of employees, there's no way everyone will follow the security SOP.

'So you need a software to ensure the enforcement of security policies.'

Governmentware is organised by business platform development company, Image Engine. It is on till tomorrow at the Suntec International Convention & Exhibition Centre.

The exhibition will be open free to all trade visitors today and tomorrow, according to the Governmentware website. For more details, log on to www.govware.sg.