The Government Accountability Office slammed the Bush administration in a report released July 29 saying 70 percent of laptops, notebook PCs, and mobile devices used by federal agencies in the executive branch <A HREF="http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Government/Government-Data-Remains-Largely-Unsecured/?kc=EWKNLNAV07312008STR5">are not encrypted or secure.</A>

The GAO report comes more than two years after the Department of Veterans Affairs reported a laptop stolen and the names and Social Security numbers of 26 million veterans were exposed, in the second-largest data breach on record. Today only 30 percent of federal agency laptops and mobile devices are using encryption to protect data, according to the report.