OECD Inflation Ticked Up. Device Theft Did Not Take the Month Off.
OECD headline inflation rose to 4.3% in August 2026. Pair that with widespread device theft and enroll the laptops you still have.
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Spearstone blog
Practical, in-depth writing on security, compliance, and device management. Open any article to read the complete piece here—formatted for the web with tables, lists, and clear typography.
Korea's DRAM Export Prices Show What Replacement Will Cost Next
Chosun Biz, citing the Bank of Korea, reported July 2026 DRAM export prices up 270.3% from a year earlier.
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Lock the Laptop Before the Weekend, Not After the Ticket Ages
A weekend delay is how a missing laptop becomes a Monday surprise. Lock and wipe need an on-call owner.
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The IMF Says Global Inflation Rises to 4.7% in 2026. Endpoints Are in That Bill.
The IMF's July 2026 World Economic Outlook update expects global headline inflation to rise from 4.1% in 2025 to 4.7% in 2026.
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DRAM Prices Are Set to Jump. A Stolen Laptop Just Got More Expensive.
TrendForce, via Seoul Economic Daily, projected a sharp Q2 rise in DRAM contract prices. Replacing a stolen device costs more while you wait.
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A Stolen Laptop Plus a Help-Desk Call Is One Incident
UK retailers were hit in 2025 through help-desk social engineering. Treat a reset request and a missing device as a single case.
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The Unmanaged Phone Is Where Corporate Passwords Keep Showing Up
Verizon's 2025 DBIR tied corporate logins in infostealer logs to non-managed devices. Phones are part of that population.
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After Change Healthcare, ePHI Still Sits on Staff Devices
The Change Healthcare estimate reached about 192.7 million people. Clinics still have patient data on laptops they issued.
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When the Employee Leaves and the Laptop Does Not Come Back
A laptop that is not returned is a device incident. Disable accounts, and wipe the hardware if you still have a path to it.
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The New Year Device Inventory Is a List You Can Wipe
A January inventory only counts if every laptop and phone on it can be locked or wiped. Here is the short version.
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Holiday Travel Is When Company Data Rides in a Backpack
December travel puts laptops in airports, cars, and guest rooms. Wipe and lock only work if the device was enrolled before the trip.
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The August 2025 Advisory Is About Routers. Traveling Staff Still Carry Phones.
CISA's August 27, 2025 joint advisory describes state-sponsored access on telecom routers. Traveling employees still need device rules.
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The Devices That Leave the Building Are the Ones That Need a Wipe Path
School carts, clinic laptops, and manager handhelds leave controlled rooms every day. Enrollment is what makes a later wipe possible.
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A 2025 Survey Found Device Theft at 76% of the IT Teams Asked
Kensington's 2025 survey of 1,000 IT decision-makers in the US and Europe found 76% had dealt with device theft in two years.
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Change Healthcare's Figure Settled Near 192.7 Million People
Change Healthcare told regulators on July 31, 2025 that about 192.7 million people were potentially impacted. Reuters reported the HHS posting in August.
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Verizon's 2025 DBIR: Almost Half of Those Infostealer Logins Sat on Unmanaged Devices
Verizon's 2025 DBIR found stolen credentials in 22% of breaches, and corporate logins from infostealers often on non-managed devices.
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UK Retail's Spring Attacks Started Where Help Desks Get Talked Into a Reset
The Cyber Monitoring Centre called the M&S and Co-op incidents one Category 2 event and pointed to help-desk social engineering.
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M&S Told Customers Personal Data Was Taken. Passwords Were Not.
On May 13, 2025, Marks & Spencer said some personal customer data was taken, not usable card details or account passwords.
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The First Hour After a Laptop Goes Missing
A missing laptop needs a named owner, a lock or wipe decision, and a password reset. Here is the first hour, without the folklore.
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PowerSchool's SIS Incident Meets the Laptop in a Student's Backpack
PowerSchool said it learned on December 28, 2024 of data taken from its student information system. School devices need their own plan.
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The Change Healthcare Estimate Moved to About 190 Million People
On January 24, 2025, Change Healthcare told HHS about 190 million people were impacted. Device controls at clinics still matter.
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Change Healthcare Had Already Sent About 100 Million Notices
By October 2024, Change Healthcare told HHS it had sent about 100 million individual notices. Clinics should still ask what remains on staff devices.
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CISA Told Highly Targeted People to Treat Their Phones as Exposed
CISA's December 2024 mobile guidance says highly targeted people should assume phone communications can be intercepted. Here is what that means for a company device.
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After a Cloud Breach, Look for the Login Still Cached on the Laptop
Stolen cloud data often starts with a password saved on a device. Here is how to treat cached logins as a device-security problem.
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AT&T's Call Records Left the Cloud. Your Laptop Can Still Leave the Building.
AT&T said call and text records for nearly all cellular customers were downloaded from a cloud workspace. Endpoints still need a wipe plan.
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Free Cybersecurity Risk Assessment
The HIPAA Security Rule requires healthcare organizations to safeguard electronic protected health information (ePHI). If you own, run, or work in healthcare, you know how demanding compliance can be—this piece frames practical risk assessment steps you can take.
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Spearstone Joins National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence Community
NCCoE brings together industry experts, government agencies, and academic institutions to solve urgent cybersecurity problems. Spearstone joined the community to help define standards and data-security best practices for real-world deployments.
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Mobile Device Management Policy Examples
Organizations with employees, contractors, or vendors on laptops and phones should enforce MDM best practices before a breach. Here are policy examples and themes—including remote wipe—that align with DriveStrike-style device protection.
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5 Reasons You Need DriveStrike
Remote wipe across drives, remote lock, and a long track record in regulated industries: a concise rundown of why teams adopt DriveStrike when data and device protection have to work the first time.
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