PDA, Laptop and Thumb Drive Security
Today we often travel with portable computers, PDAs and/or thumb drives. These devices contain information about us, about our work and potentially about others that could be disastrous to lose. Here are a few tips you can use to keep that data safe.
- Never use a weak password. Your laptop (if you connect it to the campus network) will have a reasonably strong password. If your laptop is for personal use only, the password may not be a strong one and should be changed. A strong password contains no dictionary words, has at least one numeral or symbol, a mix of upper and lower case letters and is NOT based on publicly available information (i.e., your middle name, birthday, spouse's name, etc.)
- Password your PDA, smart phone or blackberry. All modern devices of this type offer a password option. Use it with a strong password also.
- Use a password protected screen saver with a reasonably short time out period – 5 minutes or less. (20 minutes is too long for a device you could accidentally leave in a public area)
- NEVER carry unencrypted sensitive information on a thumb drive! Use your password protected laptop, or PDA. If you have the option of obtaining a secure thumb drive (with built in encryption software) buy it and use it – especially for HIPAA protected data, student information, or anything that you don’t want accessed if the device were to fall into another's hands.
- Remember that theft of these devices is both common and quick. Never turn your back on them in public. Also remember that for equipment purchased with university funds you are personally responsible for the first $500 of loss.
- Finally, don’t take what you don’t need. It is all too easy to load up a laptop or PDA with files or data "in case, I get a chance to look at it".
The loss of one of these devices is inconvenient and can be expensive; you might want to take two steps to help alleviate that risk. For your personal equipment, check with your homeowners insurance provider about purchasing additional protection against financial loss. Also, look into and purchase a recovery service. These services provide stickers for your devices with a toll free number for the finder; provide a reward if someone turns in a device that is covered and will pay for the cost of shipping to get the item back to you. The equipment available for check out is being registered with this service. One suggested vendor is StuffBak (http://www.stuffbak.com/sb/).
Last updated: 2/07/07