A Traveler’s Guide to Laptop Security

By John Gontowicz

The facts:

·         More than 1,700 laptops are lost or stolen every day.  That is more than 620,050 a year.

·         97% of them are never recovered, according to the FBI.

·         Data stored on the devices - customer lists, financial data, and correspondence - is critical.

·         The equipment itself -- laptops, Blackberry's, PDAs, LCD monitors, cell phones - are expensive.

·         Professional thieves are not interested in the laptop, only its resale value on the open market.

Below are the top fifteen tips for protecting your laptop computer:

1.       When you are travelling with a laptop please carry the laptop with you.  Many incidences have happened where laptops were stolen from baggage checked in at airports, or from luggage in storage on buses.  Because of the laptop’s weight a lot of individuals opt to check in the laptop with their luggage, but the airlines or bus services are not responsible for lost equipment.
I always see fashionable business people carrying laptops in expensive cases.  They’re asking for trouble.  Those cases say - “Laptop! Laptop!  Steal me!”

2.       When you are travelling by car and you have a laptop with you do not leave the laptop or carrying case in plain view.  Electronic gadgets including GSA units, cell phones, PDAs, laptops, portable satellite radios are all prime items for resale.  Many units are stolen just to resell and collect cash.  It is also safer to put these gadgets in the trunk before you get into the car.  Many parking lots are monitored by thieves just waiting for someone to put a computer type bag in the trunk. 

3.       Protect your laptop from the environment.  A sudden change in temperature can crack the LCD display.  If the car temperature is hot the LCD will crack as well.  You do not want to have the laptop near moisture.  This will cause the laptop from working, at times permanently.  If you had a laptop that was in a hot area and you went to an air conditioned area the laptop will sweat.  Keeping it in a carrying case will help prevent this from happening.

4.       When using a carrying case pick a bag that does not look like a computer bag.  You might have someone looking for a computer bag and to see how secure you have it.  It only takes a couple of seconds to steal a bag, and with a lot of them looking the same it would be very hard to find your bag with a lot of people around.
The second thing that you should be aware of is watching your laptop as it goes through the security check point.  There have been cases where a thief has a broken laptop and while in line if they see a similar model they switch trays with your computer with the hopes of you not noticing the switch.  The end result is that you wind up with the broken laptop, and the thief with your laptop.

5.       An unsecured laptop computer is very susceptible to data theft, even without knowing the password, especially if you use it at wireless locations.  In order to prevent this from happening to you the laptop computer should have their hard drives encrypted.  Encryption is available on Windows 2000, XP, and Vista.  These operating systems transparently use an encrypted file system, and you can encrypt any file or folder on your computer.

6.       Passwords are another area of concern for laptop computers.  It does not take long to find out what a password is especially if you have a password cracking software.  There are even service companies where you can send them certain files from your computer and they will send you the password.  There are two places where passwords are essential to the laptop user.  The first password is called the BIOS or system password, and the second is the user password so that you can access your applications.  The BIOS password prompts you when you first turn on the computer to enter a password.

7.       Laptops are pretty attractive for thieves.  To counter rising laptop theft. A number of companies sell software that silently phones home when it’s eventually reconnected to a network.  When software like this is used in conjunction with law enforcement efforts, your chances of getting your equipment back increases dramatically.  One software package also has the ability to erase the whole hard drive after the stolen laptop phones home.

8.       Turn off the boot sequence on the laptop and have the only option to start from the hard drive.  The BIOS of the computer manages how the computer starts up.  Many thieves steal the laptop for reselling it and they are not concerned with the contents of the hard drive.  If the boot sequence was turned on the thief could use a CD, USB drive or even a floppy to start the machine and wipe it clean.

9.       Lock up the laptop.  This is pretty obvious, but it is so often overlooked that it has to be included.  If a laptop isn’t in a physically secure area, then it should be locked away – in a desk drawer, in a closet, etc. Even in the office laptops might not be safe.  You must realize that cleaning people, security guards and others have keys and they can use them to access your valuables including laptops and company data.
One of the easiest and most cost-effective ways to secure your mobile PC is to use a security cable or lock, with or without an alarm, to attach your laptop to a stationary object.  Most laptops have security slots in the side or the back of their case.  You should definitely do this in a hotel room if you leave your laptop behind.  Or, use a safe that is located in your room to put the laptop into.  Do not trust giving it to hotel staff at the front desk.  Too many hands have access to their secure area. 
If you must leave your laptop behind and you do not have a security lock put the Do Not Disturb sign on the door.

10.   Make sure that you use Internet Security software, spyware prevention software and anti-virus software.

11.   Make sure you backup all of your data onto a CD, external drive, or send the files over the Internet to another computer or storage area.  There are companies that allow home users to back up their data onto their file servers for a small monthly fee.

12.   Security experts claim that you should engrave your name or company name on a laptop because it would be harder for a thief to fence it.  A thief might decide to pass on it.  If anything a company asset tag should be placed on the unit.

13.   You might want to consider buying insurance for your laptop.  Many homeowners’ insurance policies don’t cover computers.  There are companies out there that specialize in insuring computers.

14.   Never leave access numbers or passwords in your carrying case.  Keeping your password with your laptop is like keeping the keys in your car.

15.   Use a screen guard.  These guards help prevent people from peaking over your shoulder as you work on sensitive information in a public place.