Tip of the Week: Consider Private Web Browsing

I’ve already mentioned tips such as “forgetting your passwords” (not allowing the browser to store them), with respect to laptop security, and it’s good to be reminded of even the most simple, basic security precautions. Even experts need to be reminded sometimes, and certainly most other people do.
The latest versions of most of the major [...]

Rip of the Week: Laptop Theft in Broad Daylight Caught on Video

Here’s video surveillance footage of an actual laptop theft. This theft happens to include just about every attribute we talk about regularly here at MyLaptopGPS.
First, watch the footage:

What we notice here is important.

At 16:09:39 the thief enters the restaurant.
He waits 25 minutes. According to the restaurant owner, he even ordered some food.
At 16:34:20 he prepares [...]

Tip of the Week: Use a TSA-Approved Laptop Bag

Since a recent Ponemon Institute study revealed almost 12,000 laptops per week lost or stolen in US airports alone, and that the worst spot for loss/theft is the security checkpoint (no surprise there), it’s worth a tip at that very point.
I have to be careful, since I have previously recommended that folks not carry a [...]

Tip of the Week: Assume Your Employees Ignore You

Assumptions are remarkably powerful. Many of my recent tips have centered around assumptions because the assumptions we make often drive the entire way we live or operate a business. For example, if we’re having coffee and I assume that you’re listening when I speak, I might talk fairly quickly or cover a lot of material. [...]

More News Coverage of MyLaptopGPS CTO Dan Yost

Today’s Oklahoman ran a pair of articles in followup to the big data security issues here in Oklahoma.
I talked to Ms. Brown (the reporter) yesterday, and she did a nice job concisely drawing out some issues.
Here’s one article, and here’s the companion article.
These are important issues, for certain.

Identity Theft Expert and Laptop Computer Security: CTO of MyLaptopGPS Discusses Laptop Thefts Involving Oklahomans’ Data Records

(BOSTON, Mass. – May 18, 2009 – IDTheftSecurity.com) Dan Yost, chief technology officer of the laptop computer security firm MyLaptopGPS, appeared on several news media outlets this month to discuss the impact of recent government laptop thefts in Oklahoma. Nearly 1.25 million unique data records on Oklahoma citizens went missing because of apparently lax security [...]

Tip of the Week: Forget Your Passwords

Most of today’s web browsers offer the ability to “remember” passwords and usernames for websites. This is very convenient.
It’s also a horrible idea, at least without a good plan for response if the computer is stolen. Another laptop is stolen every 12 seconds. Imagine writing your name and address on your keychain, which has your [...]

Tip of the Week: Get Serious (and “Passwords” Aren’t Serious)

It would be hard not to have this week’s tip center around the massive data breach in Oklahoma (our home state), which centered upon a stolen Oklahoma Department of Human Services laptop.
So, let’s do that indeed.
According to officials at DHS, the system was protected by “multiple passwords” and a person would “have to be a [...]