TENNESSEE COMPUTER THEFT AND PROTECTION ARTICLE Could Your Laptop Be Used Against You? : WGNS Radio: "Could Your Laptop Be Used Against You?

July 9, 2008

A few weeks ago we looked at some high-tech ways to foil gadget thieves. One case involved a digital camera, another a laptop; both “captured” the crooks. But how do we protect ourselves from the bad guys before they can use the information in that laptop? Here are some frightening statistics:

• Over 600,000 laptop thefts occurred in 2004, totaling an estimated $720 million in hardware losses and $5.4 billion in theft of proprietary information. - Safeware Insurance, 2004
• 97% of stolen computers are never recovered. - FBI
• The chances of a laptop being stolen are 1 in 10. - Gartner Group, 2002
• 57% of corporate crimes are linked to stolen laptops. - McClatchy-Tribune, 2006
• Nearly 40% of victims do not report computer intrusions. - CSI/FBI Computer Crime and Security Survey, 2005
• Stolen laptops are a bigger cost burden to businesses than computer viruses. - National Hi-Tech Crime Unit, 2004

A U.K. company has come up with a clever protection system that can automatically wipe data from a laptop hard disk when it has been removed from approved locations.

Offered as an online service, BackStopp monitors a protected laptop using the Internet, Wi-Fi, or GSM.

If a laptop is reported lost or stolen - or, with the RFID option, moved from a designated space - the system will execute a file deletion routine that clears the computer of all important information.

“There are millions of laptops out there that contain valuable data. The vast majority are not stolen for their data, but the ultimate recipient will often come across the data and use it for criminal purposes. This solution prevents that illicit use,” said Virtuity’s CTO, Dean Bates.

An important characteristic of the service is that a criminal would not know it was in operation until after your data had been deleted, making it extremely hard to thwart.

Laptop theft has been reported as the number one data worry for corporations, with good reason. Here are a few recent examples of unencrypted data going missing. (From Wikipedia.org)

• A laptop that belonged to an Ernst & Young employee was stolen from a vehicle. The computer contained personal information of 243,000 Hotels.com customers.
• American International Group, a major insurance company, became responsible for private data of 970,000 potential customers when their file server and several laptop computers were stolen from its Midwest offices.
• 13,000 District of Columbia employees and retirees were put in danger of identity theft when a laptop belonging ING U.S. Financial Services was stolen from an employee’s home.
• A laptop containing debit card information and Social Security numbers of 65,000 persons was stolen from YMCA’s seemingly safe administrative offices.
• Personal data of 26.5 million U.S. veterans was on a laptop taken from the home of a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs employee.
• Four laptop computers containing names, Social Security numbers, and addresses of 72,000 customers were stolen from the Medicaid insurance provider Buckeye Community Health Plan.

Prices for the BackStopp service start at $19 per month for each laptop being protected.

Ken Ivey is a veteran technology addict, consultant, author, web designer, and President of MidTN Technology, a marketing and web design firm. His website is www.The-Tech-Reporter.com