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When thieves strike: Tips and tricks on what can be done if your laptop is ever stolen

A laptop is a high-value item in today’s world.

Not only are they expensive, but they often hold some of our most sensitive personal and professional information, which can be quite devastating if the wrong eyes get access to it.

That’s why having laptops stolen can send people into a panic.

Just ask the Office of the Chief Justice of the South African Constitutional Court, the National Prosecuting Agency and the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (also known as the Hawks) – which all had laptops containing highly confidential information on a number of high-profile cases stolen in recent months.

While your laptop may not contain details about organised crime, corruption investigations and suspects, whatever you may have stored on your laptop is still personally important to you, and likely your employer as well.

Show me the money

So, why are laptops such hot targets for criminals? In short, money.

A fairly-new to brand-new laptop today can cost anything from R5 000 to over R30 000, depending on the brand and make and specifications. It’s therefore an easy way to make a quick buck at a pawn shop, through online classifieds or through fellow criminals working in a syndicate.

Even if it’s sold for cents on the rand, that’s still a good chunk of change for someone who didn’t pay anything for the laptop in the first place.

And sadly, a stolen laptop is easy to sell, with or without all its accessories. Unlike a car, there aren’t many forms of identification that can easily link an owner to their laptop, apart from switching it on and going through its contents to prove ownership.

Less common

A less common reason is to access stored information, either to delete it or to use it against specific people or organisations. This is the suspected reason behind the high-profile thefts at the Chief Justice’s office, the NPA, and the Hawks.

Should your laptop be stolen, the ease of accessing its data depends on a number of factors. According to Edwin Mpofu, Security Operations Manager at Wolfpack Information Risk, a local information and cybersecurity company, your laptop being powered on or off when it was stolen can be a major factor in preventing information access.

“If a machine is stolen while it is powered on, the screen is not locked and is immediately accessible, there’s a higher risk of someone accessing what is stored on it. This can be even riskier if you were online or had important documents open and had not closed the sessions,” Mpofu says.

“But if it is off, it’s a different situation and may make it harder to access.”

Remote options

One key question victims of theft often ask is whether or not there is anything they can do to perhaps lock or track their laptop or protect their sensitive information remotely.

“There are tools with different functionalities that you can use, such as one provided by a company called Prey, that could help to track your device via GPS if and when it gets powered on and it connects to the internet,” Mpofu says.

These tools however, need to be in place before the laptop is stolen.

“Some tools can even use the laptop’s webcam to snap a photo of whoever is using it after it is powered on post-theft. Additionally, if you know your laptop’s serial number, you can phone the locally-based manufacturer and give them those details. You need to do this as soon as possible. What this can help with is that, say it is not a targeted theft, chances are, whoever buys the machine and comes across any issues with it may call the manufacturers tech support for assistance, provide the model and serial number and this will alert the manufacturer that the model was reported stolen,” he adds.

Hardware-locked history

For those who aren’t quite clued up on how things such as wiping browser history and how it is linked, Mpofu explains that unfortunately, it is not possible to wipe your browsing history from a machine by logging into your email with which you were signed into. This is because browser history is attached to hardware and not your log in account.

“However, if someone accesses your Google account from your stolen laptop and tries to log in again from another device, Google will notify you of this,” says Mpofu.

Mpofu adds that you simply must report the theft to the authorities. Sometimes, when police raid premises, vehicles and bags belonging to suspected thieves, they come across stolen goods. Should yours be among the goods, the police can easily track it back to you through your report and get it back to you.

How to best protect yourself from theft and security breaches

There are a number of preventative measures you can put into place to help protect yourself from theft and to keep your information safe, in the event of laptop theft.

  • Be vigilant

For starters, if you tend to move around with your laptop quite often because of work or school, you’ll need to be vigilant and remain aware of your surroundings at all times.

One of the most common ways laptops are stolen are from parked cars as a result of being left inside and visible to passers-by.

Criminals are attracted to valuables left in cars and can resort to car jamming, breaking windows or tampering with doors to get to them.

Always make sure that if you do leave your laptop in your car, that it’s tucked under a seat or in the boot. Also, before moving away from your car once you’re out, make sure all doors and the boot are locked and that your windows are closed all the way up.

If you can spend a little extra cash on getting anti-smash-and-grab film on all your car windows, that could also go a long way to securing it from would-be thieves.

Some residential complexes and public spaces also advise against leaving valuables like laptops inside vehicles overnight.

  • Technical security measures

Thankfully, there are several additional measures to put in place that can secure stored files and data.

One of those measures is hard drive encryption using programs such as Bitlocker, a built-in feature of all Professional versions of Windows since Windows 7.

Programs like Bitlocker allow you to encrypt your entire hard drive to make sure that even if someone powers your laptop up and attempts to access that data, it’s encrypted and can only be decrypted by whoever has access to the relevant encryption key.

“When someone switches your laptop on it will ask for a password to decrypt the hard drive. So, all you will end up losing is the hardware itself and not information on top of that,” Mpofu says.

“Secondly, you can install a tracking solution in your laptop to help you locate it if it is lost.”

Having a good backup system won’t help in protecting information, but it’ll help recover documents, photos, videos, contacts etc.

“Backup your information regularly to a different location such as a USB stick, external hard drive, another laptop or to the cloud,” Mpofu says.

  • Get insured

To help cover the costs of loss and to help you buy another machine, insuring your laptop while you still have it is highly advisable, especially if it is quite expensive.

You will need to inform your insurer as soon after the theft as possible so you will be able to claim.

  • Change your passwords

To help prevent access to your online details, the second you become aware that your laptop is missing, go online from your mobile or another computer and change all your passwords. This is crucial, and should encompass banking, email, social media and any other account you deem important.

Having two-step verification in place prior to your laptop being stolen adds an extra layer of security too, and is essential for things like your Microsoft, Google, Apple, and Samsung accounts.

The above measures, put in place correctly, could cushion the blow of having your laptop stolen.

  • Consult your brand reps

For additional ideas on how to go about securing your laptop, contact the local representatives of your laptop’s brand and ask them for their model-specific tips.

They may highlight specific hardware or software you aren’t aware of in your specific laptop that could help, and show you how to activate it so you’re prepared for the worst, should it happen.

[Image – CC 0 by TheDigitalWay]

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