Laptop Theft Prevention, How to Prevent Laptop Theft, Why Laptop Storage is important

 

Prevent Laptop Theft

 

 

Tips on how to prevent laptop theft:

Laptops have become a valuable part of the computing arsenal. They allow users powerful mobile computers with the same capacity and software of many desktops. They also allow connectivity, even outside the office, thus freeing people to take their workplace with them. This is extremely valuable for employees who must travel frequently while remaining in continual communication with their offices. Unfortunately, the mobility, technology and information that make laptops so useful to employees and organizations also makes them valuable prizes for thieves.

This article, the first in a two-part series devoted to laptop security, will give a brief overview of how users can prevent laptop theft. In realization of the fact that no matter what users do, laptop theft will always be a possibility, the second article in this series will discuss steps that users can take to minimize the loss of valuable information through laptop theft.

The Cost of Laptop Theft

Imagine, if you will, that you are the executive of a major international mega-corp who is giving a presentation to a group of American Business Editors and Writers. After delivering a successful speech to the group, you move about the crowd, taking questions. Meanwhile, your laptop sits happily up on the podium you used to deliver your presentation. When you return to the podium, you discover that in the few short minutes that you've been away, someone has pinched your laptop. Sound improbable? This actually happened last September to Irwin Jacobs, CEO of Qualcomm.

The theft in itself was bold, but not totally surprising. What was, however, interesting to note was Jacob's candidness about the data stored on his laptop. Several witnesses reported that he stated that the laptop had contained highly sensitive data that could be of great value to foreign governments. At the time, Qualcomm was in negotiations with several of China's telecomm providers to license their CDMA cellular technology.

Was Jacob's foolish for bringing a laptop containing mission critical confidential data to an insecure public location? Yes. Is he alone? Definitely not. In 1998, 520 security experts responded to a Computer Security Institute survey, the results were quite revealing. Laptop theft ranked second to viruses as the biggest computer crime that they had to deal with. According to a report released by the Safeware Insurance Group, "approximately 387,000 notebook PCs were stolen in 2000, up about 20 percent from an estimated 319,000 in 1999." Further, it was estimated that at least 57 percent of businesses in the year 2000 incurred losses from computer equipment theft.

Of course, not all laptop thefts are committed in an attempt to grab valuable proprietary information, some laptop thieves head straight to the pawn shop. However, according to William Malik, vice president and information-security research director for market researcher Gartner Group, informal surveys indicate that about 10 percent to 15 percent of those laptops are stolen by criminals intent on selling the data. Indeed, in the case of Qualcomm CEO Jacobs, while his hardware was estimated at about $4000, the information carried upon it was thought to be worth millions.

What Can I do to Protect My Laptop?

So given the risk of laptop theft and the potential losses that laptop theft can cause, what are some of the steps that individuals and organizations can implement to prevent it.

Well, you should purchase some kind of laptop storage product that helps protect your laptops when they are not being used by any individual. Greenline Data Inc can supply laptop storage products that not only protect your laptops from laptop theft, but also keep your laptops secure while they're stored in the cabinet by providing neworking to the laptops so you can keep your security updates and company software updates going into the laptops through your CAT5 or CAT6 network cable. .