Nefarious types typically break into houses and cars to steal portable and easy-to-sell items. They’re not after your music collection, photos, address book and home movies, but that’s exactly what they get when they nick your laptop. Here are some tips for securing your digital life in case the unthinkable happens to you.
Someone I knew was robbed recently. The thieves crept into his house while he slept, grabbed the laptops, and headed straight out the way they came.
Worse than waking up to discover the broken window, the missing laptops, and every iPod in the house gone, however, was finding out that all his data was lost, and his backups were old.
Hardware, of course, can be replaced, but reclaiming work-related files, email trails, contact lists, personal projects, birthday calendars, membership and account details for a myriad of online and offline services, plus logins and passwords to everything that matters in you life is a whole other dimension of loss altogether.
So as many Australians prepare to leave their homes home unattended during the holiday break, consider these precautions for protecting your digital life.
Remember, an ounce of prevention is worth a dose of cure.
Any hints on securing a desktop?
Some desktops support the Kensington lock, so that’ll secure it to a spot.
On the software side, Prey does work, although the webcam feature may not.
What sort of security were you looking for?
Physical security, basically to deter a thief. I do regular backups but I just don’t like the thought of someone getting access to all my photos, emails etc.
A decent password will help, but check to see if the back of your case has a Kensington lock, or something like it. Possibly even a key to lock down the case.
If it does, great. Chances are you won’t be moving the desktop computer very often, so it’s not that big of an ask.
I had someone break into my locked suitcase and steal my laptop out of my hotel room on the Gold Coast….need to be careful everywhere these days