You probably use your mobile devices such as laptop to store your personal information: photos, contacts, financial information, research works, work related information and many more. A minor distraction is all it takes for a mobile device to vanish. If it goes missing, all the valuable information stored on it may fall into the hands of a thief or a cybercriminal. In this newsletter we present six steps you can take to protect your laptop.
1. Never leave it unattended: The person next to you in the library seems trustworthy, so you are comfortable leaving your laptop while you go and make some enquiries. You leave your laptop in your office or room unattended just “for a minute” while you go to the washroom, or talk with a colleague next door. The people at the coffee shop seem nice, so you ask them to keep an eye on it while you use the restroom. Not a good idea. Don’t leave your laptop unguarded even for a minute. Take it with you if you can or lock your office.
2. Do not leave your laptop in a car. Parked cars are a favorite target for laptop thieves. If you have no choice and you must leave it in your car, keep it locked up and out of sight.
3. Secure your Mobile Device with Strong Password: Configure your laptops to require a password when turning it on and before you login in. Select a password that is at least 8 character long containing both lower case and upper case characters, numbers, symbols and spaces. That way, your passwords cannot easily be guessed by someone.
4. Do not put your laptop on the floor: If you find yourself in a public place such as restaurant, transport terminal or a registration desk, do not place your laptop on the floor. If you must put it down, place it where it is visible or where you can feel it so you remember that it is there.
5. Do not keep passwords with your laptop: Leaving your passwords in your laptop carrying case or sticking it on your laptop is like leaving your keys in your car. Don’t make it easy for a thief to access your personal or corporate information.
6. Backup: Backups your laptop regularly so that you can recover your data should something bad happen to your laptop.
