November 5, 2015 at 9:41 pm
Comments posted to this topic are about the item The Lost Laptop Crisis
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November 6, 2015 at 2:33 am
I never keep data on my laptop for all your reasons, Steve.
besides, if you keep everything on the network, it's regularly backed up - with no effort on my part.
if I REALLY REALLY HAVE to take data away from work (always ask yourself, do I REALLY need sensitive data on my laptop or am I just pretending to be important? 9 times out of 10 there is a better way), take it on a datastick which you keep in your wallet and NOT in the latptop bag, and take the empty laptop.
If you REALLY need to have REAL data with you, then write yourself a script that extracts enough data for your purposes AND anonymises it and take that instead.
Discipline is everything.
K8
November 6, 2015 at 2:53 am
Simple! I don't have a laptop, either at work or at home.
November 6, 2015 at 3:44 am
I have always tried to take a non-daily use device but any sensitive information I keep online or, as suggested by kate.fletcher 80760, on an external drive. External drives used to be a significant size but seeing as I ordered a 200Gb MicroSD card yesterday it appears to be much less of an issue.
I am not concerned regarding any personal files because I keep nothing sensitive on my laptop and can get duplicates (via backups) of pretty much anything.
Another important thing to do is not leave the laptop lying about. Even in your hotel room. Close the lid and keep it out of plain sight. Sure a quick search might find it but you are not tempting someone if they get just a brief opportunity.
Gaz
-- Stop your grinnin' and drop your linen...they're everywhere!!!
November 6, 2015 at 6:34 am
I don't have a laptop. On those rare occasions when I have been sent somewhere and needed a laptop, I had a loaner with minimal data and the ability to connect back to our home network.
November 6, 2015 at 7:20 am
Most of the companies I've worked with lately disable usage of the internal hard drive, with the possible exception of temporarily storing office type documents. These are then synched to your network home drive when you next plug into the network. Otherwise all access is via VPN when you're not on premises.
Most have also disabled the USB port(s). You can get power from them but that's it. Those that allow using a USB port, they only allow usage of company supplied and encrypted sticks.
There is absolutely no need for sensitive data on local drives that can be stolen or compromised.
November 6, 2015 at 7:29 am
This is one of the reasons I don't take my work laptop home. I carry it around the office for internal meetings, but to work at home I remote in from my home computer. Losing my home computer wouldn't hurt since you'd have to know my VPN password to get onto our network, and if you have that then we're in trouble anyway.
November 6, 2015 at 8:18 am
I've lost my laptop to burglars, but was already practicing what's being discussed here.
All files backed up somewhere other than the laptop.
All important and sensitive files not retaining copies on the laptop
Passwords not stored
No encryption or additional protection beyond the windows password, but really no need to. Aside from still being bitter about the loss of the hardware, no impact. I never worried for a second. If they have the ability to get at any of my important work or data, they already did and never needed the laptop. So of course, once I replaced the thing I was immediately thinking "OK, same plan."
Additionally, I typically wipe/reformat/reinstall/redact about once per year. My current laptop has been redone and free space redacted at least 6 times (3 in the last year due to testing Windows 10 builds)
November 6, 2015 at 9:34 am
david.gugg (11/6/2015)
This is one of the reasons I don't take my work laptop home. I carry it around the office for internal meetings, but to work at home I remote in from my home computer. Losing my home computer wouldn't hurt since you'd have to know my VPN password to get onto our network, and if you have that then we're in trouble anyway.
We cannot use a home computer (other than web Outlook to check mail). So carrying the laptop is pretty much mandatory. There is full disk encryption and other security features installed by corporate team, however.
...
-- FORTRAN manual for Xerox Computers --
November 6, 2015 at 10:06 am
kate.fletcher 80760 (11/6/2015)
...take it on a datastick which you keep in your wallet and NOT in the latptop bag, and take the empty laptop.
If you REALLY need to have REAL data with you, then write yourself a script that extracts enough data for your purposes AND anonymises it and take that instead.
Discipline is everything.
K8
Not a bad plan, but certainly a datastick can be lost easily. Have a story about that coming. Plus if you access data on the laptop, you have to be sure it is removed, such as in a db. Reports and other data, more an issue for non-developers than devs, but certainly something to watch.
A curated, anonymized dataset is something everyone should have.
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November 6, 2015 at 10:59 am
Like many have already said, I seldom take my office laptop home with me; when I leave for the day it is locked in a cabinet. If I need to work from home and vpn in to the office, I will take the laptop home.
No sensitive data is stored on my laptop. I back up my important files to a 2 TB external hard drive. It is encrypted and has a 10 character "multi-character type" password. Each week I back that up to my home server.
You may call me paranoid but I seldom lose data.
November 6, 2015 at 11:32 am
...
No encryption or additional protection beyond the windows password, but really no need to. Aside from still being bitter about the loss of the hardware, no impact. I never worried for a second. If they have the ability to get at any of my important work or data, they already did and never needed the laptop. So of course, once I replaced the thing I was immediately thinking "OK, same plan."
...
If they compromise your laptop, they have a foothold to compromise the network next time you VPN in. This is one of the reasons we are not allowed to connect personal computers to the VPN.
...
-- FORTRAN manual for Xerox Computers --
November 7, 2015 at 6:16 pm
Where I work, we deal with health care stuff (HIPAA). I don't get a laptop, but others do. Everything is encrypted including email. Lose the laptop and you are let go. We had a high-level person leave their laptop in their car 'just for a moment' and it was gone when they got back. They are gone from the company. Our policy sets it out very clearly, keep your laptop secure or else, and it gives directions on how to secure it. They even provide a laptop cable lock when you get assigned a laptop, so you have even less excuse for losing it.
-SQLBill
November 9, 2015 at 7:08 am
Xavon (11/6/2015)
I don't have a laptop. On those rare occasions when I have been sent somewhere and needed a laptop, I had a loaner with minimal data and the ability to connect back to our home network.
Same exact scenario for me.
November 9, 2015 at 7:10 am
We don't carry data on our laptops. We use them to connect back home.
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