Don’t Want Your Laptop But What’s In It
There are many lessons to learn from the recent Veteran’s Department data loss fiasco. Despite so many warnings and incidents, people often protect their laptop for the wrong reasons. Savvy thieves do not want your laptop but what information you may store in it. If you own a laptop, you should always be aware of that. You can purchase a new laptop but once data is gone, it’s gone. There’s no way to ever retrieve that. And, as entrepreneurs, we need to remember our private information is one thing but what about customer’s information? Losing that could be fatal to your business. But… you don’t carry customer information. All your data is online, your payment processor or shopping cart system has all that. They can’t get it. Maybe and maybe not. If you save any passwords on your computer (and my guess is you likely do) how easy would it be for people to access this information? So, what’s a poor entrepreneur to do? Here’s a few suggestions to get a started. It won’t be Fort Knox type security but it’s better than doing nothing.
- You might want to think about storing your data off your laptop. Either invest in USB drive (that you can password protect) or store it on a server.
- If you must save web site logins, consider setting a master password, clear your cache regularly or use something like RoboForm or better yet, Pass2Go the mobile version of Roboform
- Carrying USB drives seem like a good idea so far but don’t forget to protect that too. There are units you can buy with security features. They are always a better idea than normal drives.
- If you travel a lot, consider tracking services. Some of these can not only help you recover your laptop but once reported stolen, they’ll encrypt your data, lock your computer or even wipe the hard drive clean. Not pleasant thought huh but that’s better than sacrificing the business.
- If you need to sent your laptop out to get fixed, remove all sensitive data on it. You can also get software that will delete files completely leaving no trace.
- Be very careful about connecting to wireless networks out in town. I know it’s exciting to be able to work wherever we want but there are people just waiting to crack into your computer on these public networks. If you just need to send an email, you might want to use your cell phone instead.
Technorati Tags: business, internet, security, technology
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They say now they recovered it and the data is intact, hasn’t been accessed. They got lucky but as the spouse of a Veteran, my confidence in their ability to keep our data safe is already undermined. Not that we had such a great confidence to start with.
I’d be so devastated if my customers feel this way about me.
They say now they recovered it and the data is intact, hasn’t been accessed. They got lucky but as the spouse of a Veteran, my confidence in their ability to keep our data safe is already undermined. Not that we had such a great confidence to start with.
I’d be so devastated if my customers feel this way about me.
Would it be ok to use wi-fi out and about as long as you don’t do anything like log in to your paypal account or a site that has your CC info in it, or is all surfing a bad idea?
Would it be ok to use wi-fi out and about as long as you don’t do anything like log in to your paypal account or a site that has your CC info in it, or is all surfing a bad idea?
Carrie, general surfing should be ok. There’s still a certain amount of risk because when you connect wirelessly, you’re actually putting your computer into a group on the network. So if your computer is not properly secured if I were sitting next to you, I could ‘log on’ to your computer and look through your files and you wouldn’t even notice it.
When you’re on a public wi-fi place, general surfing is ok and make sure you disable file and printer sharing. Also, set your computer to require username/password to log on. Yes it can be a PITB for you – but just a matter of getting used to. Here’s a good step by step for setting user accounts and password logons.
Carrie, general surfing should be ok. There’s still a certain amount of risk because when you connect wirelessly, you’re actually putting your computer into a group on the network. So if your computer is not properly secured if I were sitting next to you, I could ‘log on’ to your computer and look through your files and you wouldn’t even notice it.
When you’re on a public wi-fi place, general surfing is ok and make sure you disable file and printer sharing. Also, set your computer to require username/password to log on. Yes it can be a PITB for you – but just a matter of getting used to. Here’s a good step by step for setting user accounts and password logons.
thank you Lynette!
thank you Lynette!