Travelling? – How to protect your laptop
If you travel with your laptop regularly, or a planning on travelling soon, you might want to ensure you follow a few key steps before you head out. The statistics are overwhelmingly bad: According to Gartner, one laptop is stolen every 53 seconds.
Airports, in particular, have become black holes for business travellers’ laptops: thousands of laptops are lost at Australian airports each year, and very high percentage of those laptops, which good Samaritans and airport employees return to lost-and-found departments, are never reclaimed.
Increased security measures have created longer checkpoint lines and a more stressful environment. Travellers are feeling more and more rushed when they get to the airport prior to a flight. It’s not surprising, then, that the most common airport locations where laptops are lost include security checkpoints and departure lounges.
The situation gets even more complex and stressful when you add a couple of screaming kids and millions of others trying to “get home”. It’s easy to see that the stress of rushing to catch a flight, combined with the number of gadgets we travel with, eg laptops, mobile phones, PDAs, iPods, creates a situation that is conducive to property loss.
10 Tips to Avoid Laptop and Data Loss
1. Back Up Valuable Data Before Travelling. Travellers should back-up their data as often as possible to minimise the risk of data loss in the event that their laptop is stolen. Using a service such as Carbonite on your laptop can provide you with automatic backup of your important data. Because the information stored on your laptop is often more valuable than the laptop itself, it is important to treat the data with as much care as possible.
2. Use Laptop Recovery and Data Protection Software. Laptop recovery tools can be an effective way to find your laptop should thieves get their hands on it.
3. Don’t Put Your Laptop in Your Checked Luggage. Travellers should always keep their laptop with them at all times. Apart from not having your valuable and expensive gear under your control, baggage handlers don’t know what is in your bag. You run the risk of having your laptop broken or stolen during your trip.
You should also try to carry your laptop in an inconspicuous bag. You want a laptop case that’s protective and padded.
4. Clearly label your laptop to distinguish It from others at security checkpoints. You should also hold on to your laptop until the last second when moving through security checkpoints. Clearly labelling your laptop will help you find it among other laptops once through the metal detectors the report.
5. Ask to Put Your Laptop in the Hotel Safe When You’re Not Using It. Most hotels have a safe that guests can use in their room or at the front desk. It’s a good idea to check with the hotel when making a reservation. If there’s no safe in which to store your laptop and you can’t take the laptop with you, at a minimum you should place it in a secure cabinet in the hotel room.
6. Do Not Log On to Unsecured Wireless Networks. This seems like a no-brainer, but if the wireless network you’re logging on to doesn’t require you to enter a password, don’t use it. Unsecured networks are a two-way street. While anyone can access the network, anyone on the network may be able to access your laptop, and subsequently your information.
7. Do Not Access Financial or Bank Records While Travelling especially on public wireless networks.
8. Deselect “Remember Me” When Browsing the Internet. Clicking “remember me” on websites, or allowing the Internet browser to remember passwords or usernames, reduces the security provided by the username and passwords.
9. Clear Your History and Cache After Using a Web Browser. Before ending an Internet session-particularly on a public laptop-clear the private data (cookies, history, Internet files) stored in the browser. This can be accessed through the ‘Tools’ menu on most Internet browsers.
10. If You Are Using a Public Computer, Be Aware of Keyboard Loggers and Trackers. Identity thieves will often install keyboard loggers on to public computers (like those in hotels or public libraries). These programs invisibly track the keystrokes of unsuspecting victims. A thief can come back at any time and see where you’ve been on the Internet and gather the usernames and passwords you’ve entered.
