laptop security

I think this will interest some people here.

I always say, whenever laptops are mentioned: "Forget everything else, I
have nightmares already!".

The loss of information due to laptop thefts is extremely high, here is
an innovation that may possibly be as useless as car theft alarms
(unless you are nearby and didn't leave the laptop in the car), but it's
a good start. This may actually be useful.

What I'd like to see is a GPS device with wireless communication to my
cell phone. It can be a quiet indicator, or perhaps ring when it is
being moved.. or even when I move too far away from it.

You can find the article at:
http://www.canada.com/vancouver/stor...2-be29eaeb346f

Gadi Evron.

Gadi Evron

Gadi Evron <> wrote:

>I think this will interest some people here.
>
>I always say, whenever laptops are mentioned: "Forget everything else, I
>have nightmares already!".
>
>The loss of information due to laptop thefts is extremely high, here is
>an innovation that may possibly be as useless as car theft alarms
>(unless you are nearby and didn't leave the laptop in the car), but it's
>a good start. This may actually be useful.
>
>What I'd like to see is a GPS device with wireless communication to my
>cell phone. It can be a quiet indicator, or perhaps ring when it is
>being moved.. or even when I move too far away from it.
>
>You can find the article at:
>http://www.canada.com/vancouver/stor...2-be29eaeb346f

That an interesting story, and it seems to have made quite a stir with
various agencies and companies.

However the "new invention" doesn't really seem new. I distinctly
recall seeing a similar device advertised quite a while ago.
Confirmed by a google search.

Above article does not mention any of this, and it is not clear how
the "new invention" is different from existing technology. But maybe
that's in the trio's course report. It would have to be in the patent
application.

Roger

somebody@compusmart.ab.ca

Gadi Evron wrote:
> The loss of information due to laptop thefts is extremely high, here is
> an innovation that may possibly be as useless as car theft alarms
> (unless you are nearby and didn't leave the laptop in the car), but it's
> a good start. This may actually be useful.

It does not help much against the loss of information.
Sure, you retrieve your laptop, but all the data is already copied.

As (loss off) data is usually more costly than the price of a laptop,
encrypt your hard disk completely, I would say.

Groetjes
John

John

Your best bet is to get a cable, encrypt important (read confidential
files ...or your whole drive) AND install some tracking/disk wiping
software Do I need to mention back-ups? . For examples of tracking
software go to:

www.laptrak.com
tracking and crypto (s/w)

http://www.thecyberangel.com/
tracking, alerts and crypto

http://www.ztrace.com/
as above

http://www.absolute.com/
more expensive, but allows the disk to be remotely wiped

Remember to check details as some products will not persist if the
thief formats the drive.

While there is an obvious down-side, another option which seems to
help is to distress the lap-top. This won't deter a spy, but many
thieves go for the newer looking units as they get a few more bucks
for newer hardware. For example, there was a local case (near me)
where a thief stole over 300 lap-tops from the same company (generally
in the same building) over a period of a year. He dressed as a phone
repair tech., walked around grabbing lap-tops and putting them in his
(wheeled) tool box. He stole up to 3 a day over an 18 month period
before somebody figured it out. He was particularly targeting newer
machines. When questioned by the police he explained that he got a
$100 bonus (from his fence) for newer units and about $250-400 for
everything else.

There are other stories like that one...too many.

H.

Gadi Evron <> wrote in message news:<newscache$xpdsth$jhj$>.. .
> I think this will interest some people here.
>
> I always say, whenever laptops are mentioned: "Forget everything else, I
> have nightmares already!".
>
> The loss of information due to laptop thefts is extremely high, here is
> an innovation that may possibly be as useless as car theft alarms
> (unless you are nearby and didn't leave the laptop in the car), but it's
> a good start. This may actually be useful.
>
> What I'd like to see is a GPS device with wireless communication to my
> cell phone. It can be a quiet indicator, or perhaps ring when it is
> being moved.. or even when I move too far away from it.
>
> You can find the article at:
> http://www.canada.com/vancouver/stor...2-be29eaeb346f
>
> Gadi Evron.

The H-Bum