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The power of a laptop

Who would ever have said that a laptop could be privacy’s Achilles Heel? But, when you think about it, stealing a laptop is easier than hacking into huge corporate and government computers.

What’s so amazing is that data from big computers winds up on $1,000 laptops. Confidential information on 26 million plus individuals was stolen from the Department of Veterans Affairs in Washington. Why would anyone have all that on a laptop? Personal information on laptops left Fidelity Investments, Texas-based EDS and the New York office of Ernest & Young, LLP. All the thieves had to do was grab a laptop to capture what seems like the records of half the citizens of the country.

American International Group, Inc., the big U.S. insurance company, had a server stolen from a Midwest office. Servers were once fairly big; now they will fit in a briefcase. Lost was personal information on about 930,000 of our fellow citizens.

Someone seems to have figured out that holding a laptop for ransom could be a moneymaker.

Here are a few suggestions for avoiding such costly disasters:
• Don’t put sensitive data files on laptops.
• Have your laptop password protected.
• Don’t leave your laptop in a hotel room.
• Mark your laptop distinctively so you can always recognize it.
• Lock your laptop in the trunk of the car.

There are other precautions, but following these basics will go a long way to improving laptop security.

Tom is president of Mosinee Insurance Agency,
Inc. 715-693-2100;
tomh@mosineeins.com

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