Stolen Laptops and ID Theft

No one ever wants to have to utter the words, “Boss, I’m at O’Hare, but my laptop’s gone.”

There are a hundred ways ID theft can happen, but having a laptop stolen has got to be one of the worst. The good news is there are just about as many ways to avoid it or to control the damage.

• Put it in a backpack or something less conspicuous than a laptop case. The less it looks like a laptop the less likely is to be stolen by somebody looking to steal a laptop.
• Keep your eye on it. This might be especially difficult when you’re trying to rush through the airport so give yourself plenty of time to get through security.
• Chain it up. This sounds drastic, but consider how drastically your life could be affected by ID theft. If you’re carrying other people’s personal information for business, consider how drastically your lifestyle could be affected when a higher up faces the prospect of announcing to the world that millions of people are at risk of ID theft because the laptop you carried was stolen.
• It’s not safe at work, either. In fact, 40 percent of stolen laptops were stolen at work. Don’t leave your laptop sitting around even if you’re just going to the restroom or to an office right down the hall.
• Password protect it. This won’t get your data or your laptop back, but it could protect you or someone else from ID theft. With a BIOS password, nobody gets into the computer without entering the password. And remember: make your password a strong one by including numbers, characters, and upper and lowercase letters.
• Back it up. Again, this won’t help with recovery, but at least you’ll have the information you need to stay in business. Even a simple memory stick or iPod will do the job.
• Encrypt it. If you’re using any recent Windows systems, you have built in encryption utilities.
• Find it. Utilities are available that can actually locate the stolen laptop once it’s connected to the internet. Opinions vary as to how effective GPS utilities are, but MyLaptopGPS sounds particularly interesting. The makers claim that it if your laptop is stolen, not only can they locate it, they can remove your most important data from your hard drive and download it to you securely. The cost is only $10 a month for up to two laptops for individuals; businesses pay $10 for each.

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