Laptop Security

Your laptop can help you work and keep in touch, no matter where you are. It's convenient - but are you doing all you can to keep your laptop in your hands (and out of the hands of others)? Learn the steps you can take to help keep your laptop safe.

Following is a list of articles and resources that every laptop owner can benefit from:

• Quick Facts About Laptop Security
  
  Thinking of taking your laptop on the road? It's a great way to work and stay in touch when you're out and about, but you need to take some steps to keep your laptop safe and in your possession. Here are some things you can do to keep track of your laptop:
  

  

• Quick Facts About Identity Theft (ID-Theft)
  
  It's important to protect your personal information, and to take certain steps quickly to minimize the potential damage from identity theft if your information is accidentally disclosed or deliberately stolen:
  

  

• Take Charge: Fighting Back Against Identity Theft
  
  It's important to protect your personal information, and to take certain steps quickly to minimize the potential damage from identity theft if your information is accidentally disclosed or deliberately stolen:
  

  

• Prevent Laptop Theft, ID Theft And Protect Data
  
  In the pervasively plugged-in world that we all live in, the safety of our electronic devices, our personal data and personal identity cannot be overemphasized. With the increasing importance of our laptops, mobile devices and the data that resides on these devices, there is another alarming trend - the sharp rise in laptop theft that leads to identity theft.
  

  

• How Should Businesses Deal With A Date Breach?
  
  These days, it is almost impossible to be in business and not collect or hold personally identifying information - names and addresses, Social Security numbers, credit card numbers, or other account numbers - about your customers, employees, business partners, students, or patients. If this information falls into the wrong hands, it could put these individuals at risk for identity theft.
  

  

• Protect Data and Prevent Identity Theft
  
  We all use laptops or our computers for online banking, keeping family photos, online shopping, social networking and etc. In addition we travel for leisure and business and take our laptops with us. The chances of losing a laptop or having it stolen have risen sharply. Here are some simple steps that all of us can take to protect data and for privacy protection if our laptops are lost or stolen:
  

  

• Data Security & Asset Management
  
  The most common computer crime is not virus attacks or hackers breaking into your network. It is laptop theft! Electronic devices like laptops, PDA and etc., spend more time out than in the office. With a mobile work force, and business spread not across the country but across continents, laptop safety and data security should be a number one priority for business owners.
  

  

• Tips To Protect Laptops
  
  The simplest safety rule for anything important is that NEVER leave it unguarded. This applies especially to laptops which at this point have personal data, financial data in addition to work data. A lost or stolen laptop can wreck havoc in our work or personal life. Here are some simple steps that all of us can take to protect our laptops from getting lost or stolen:
  

  

• Safeguarding Private Medical Data
  
  The New York Times Editorial (March 26, 2008).
  
  Almost 2,500 patients taking part in a federal medical trial recently had their private health data compromised when a researcher's laptop computer was stolen.
  

  

• Gap: Laptop with 800,000 job seekers' data stolen
  
  On September 26, 2007, clothing retailer, Gap Inc. reported that a laptop computer containing personal information for about 800,000 job applicants, was stolen.
  

  

• Don't let criminals steal your identity
  
  The constant complaint of law enforcement officials worldwide is not how skillful their criminal adversaries are, but how much the public unwittingly plays into their hands. Unlocked doors, open windows, unsecured valuables, and generally making it easy for even a moderately competent criminal to target and acquire your property.
  

  

• Protect Laptop On Vacation
  
  When traveling, keep it out of sight as much as possible. It may feel really cool to surf the web in the airport or at a truck stop, but it's a good way to get you marked as a target for a snatch and grab.
  

  

• Help Find Your PC
  
  While prevention is the best solution, you should have a viable emergency plan in place, should your laptop is stolen..
  

  

• Laptop Data Security
  
  Data encryption is critical for laptop users. Most desktop computers are in a fairly secured location, such as an office or your private residence, making it difficult for a data thief to get at your information without getting caught.
  

  

• ID Theft- How to Know If you are Victim?
  
  ID theft occurs when someone pretends to be you in order to make purchases that they don't intend to pay for. The ID thief has essentially stolen your identity for fraudulent purposes.