A well-known English actress, now in her 30s, had two laptops stolen from her luxury zone one London flat during a burglary. The movements of well-known individuals are often known, so it is not hard to guess when their property is vacant. It is not known if this break-in was targeted or not. Properties of people in the public eye are often broken into, since criminals know when they are out, since some TV programmes are broadcast live rather than pre-recorded.

In November 2010, The Evening Standard reported that a burglary occurred in Bayswater, London and the actress 'feels violated'. £1m+ properties are often targeted due to belongings stored in them. Insurance would clearly pay out for the belongings and change of locks. Even without insurance, the actress could clearly afford to buy new laptops too. Two laptops worth £2,000 stolen sounds like a big deal to your average person but not to the owner in this case. Physical asset value is nothing, but the problem is the loss of past irreplaceable photos, and them leaking to the press or being blackmailed.

So what are the lessons to be learnt? Laptops (and even desktops) should have a strong Windows or Apple password, encrypt the whole hard drive, install a software persistent tracker on portable devices, and install automated offsite data backup software, which uploads your files daily to an off-site server.