SmallBizResource Blog -- Business Know-How

Guard Your Laptop While Traveling

Courtesy of Business Know-How Thursday, Jul 3, 2008, 08:23 AM ET

While traveling by train from Philadelphia to Atlantic City, I sat near a man who spent a portion of the time working on his laptop, but then fell asleep with his laptop on the seat beside him.

Given that my notebook is my most essential work tool as a writer, I was more concerned about the safety of his laptop than he was. During the hour-and-a-half train ride, I alternated reading, gazing out the window and watching his laptop.

When I was doing security work for the Defense Department, I often advised our travelers to take care of their government-owned laptops, because they are highly pilferable. They are portable, being thin and light, and once stolen they are easy to hide by slipping them into a shopping bag or gym bag.

I was not only concerned about the lost of government property; I was also concerned about the loss of government data. Over the years I've read of cases where government officials--some of whom had highly classified and/or sensitive data stored on their laptops--lost their laptops by having them stolen or they simply left them on the seat of a train, plane or car.

Although I handled many cases of lost or stolen government laptops, BlackBerrys and cell phones on my watch, thankfully none of them contained classified or sensitive data. This was no doubt due to our security briefings where we advised our people not to store critical data on portable electronic equipment.

This advice holds true for small business people as well. Thousands of laptops are stolen from traveling business people each year. As recently as this week, new research came out that reveals 10,278 laptops are reported lost every week at 36 of the largest U.S. airports, and around 2,000 laptops are recorded lost at medium-size airports.

Thieves love laptops even more than iPods, and although some criminals will commit armed robbery to take them from you, most prefer to lift the laptops from unsuspecting travelers. So keep these in mind and stay sharp: Thieves look for flustered travelers who are struggling with too much luggage; they look for distracted travelers who place their laptop bags on the floor next to them as they scan train, plane and bus schedules from a pamphlet or the electronic board; and they look for travelers who are preoccupied with their children.

--By Paul Davis, courtesy of Business Know-How

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