How to protect yourself if your laptop is stolen

We had recently read a statistic that one laptop is stolen every 53 seconds, with most of them resulting in a data breach. With remote working growing in popularity, companies must educate their employees about security measures. Most laptop thefts typically occur in public places like airports & train stations, where you put your bags down to find they are gone in a matter of seconds. Other obvious targets for thief’s are your car and public WI-FI spots. So, what can you do to protect yourself in the unlikely event that your laptop is stolen or lost?

• You must strait away change all your passwords on all your accounts, for example email, bank accounts, social networks etc.
• Alert the police and inform your company if It is used for business.
• Put a fraud alert on your bank accounts and monitor for any unusual activity.

Of course, there are plenty things you can do in advance to protect yourself, explained below.

• Record the model and serial numbers which will help when filing the police report.
• A security cable may help to secure your laptop which is a great first defence but it isn’t to say they may cut through the cable and wreck the desk that it is attached too, but it might put them off pilfering it in the first place.
• Tracking software can be installed which can be used to locate, lock down and retrieve your device.
• Having all your data stored on only your laptop will cause a headache, if it is ever stolen. You should always back up your data remotely or sync up to the cloud.
• Encrypting your laptop is good practice, if it is not encrypted, a thief can easily steal information. You can encrypt individual files, folders or entire disks within a computer.
• Tag the laptop with an irremovable, bar coded metal plate.

Of course, practising common sense and having precaution’s in place is vital to protect yourself and your company’s data. If you need any advice on laptop security, please call and ask to speak to one of our cyber security professionals that will only be happy to help!