Limit Physical Access All laptops and most desktops have built-in slots that will allow you to tie your computer down with a cable and lock. If your computer doesnt have slots, there are some security kits available that come with anchoring plates, cables and a lock. If your computer is physically locked down, it will certainly deter a thief who wants to sneak away unnoticed. But, remember, anyone ambitious enough can slice through even the thickest cable. For added safety, make sure that the rooms where PCs are left have strong doors, working locks and security alarms. Appoint someone to run a nighttime safeguard check, to be sure everything is secure before employees leave for the day. Remember to be on guard even during the daytime: password-protect screen savers to deter walk up access to every computer. Limit Data Access Aside from physically protecting computers, remember to protect your data, too. A thief can plant snoopware on a computer, allowing him to steal personal information. An easily undetectable device called a key logger can be maliciously planted on the keyboard cable or even in a special keyboard that is switched for the original. The key logger allows a thief copy data from the machine, without leaving a trace. Prevent this by locking computer cables into sockets and preventing access to any disk drives. There are hard drive encryption utilities available, which make stealing data from a hard drive impossible. A sensible way of protecting data is to make computers as useless as possible to the thief. Password-protecting the BIOS configurations and hard drives will certainly help in this effort. Also, turn off the ability to boot from the CD-ROM and floppy disk drives by locating the boot-order menu in your CMOS setup and disabling the appropriate selections. You can place ownership information on the computers initial splash screen, to make it difficult for the thief to pawn the machine later. Its a surprising fact, but the biggest threat of sabotage comes from current and former employees, not from strangers. You can guard against employee theft by setting security policies, changing passwords often, and canceling the logins and passwords of terminated employees as soon as possible. How to Reduce Your Security Risks So how can you determine if all of these preventive measures are really necessary for your company? First, you should perform a risk analysis on the equipment in your company. The most common risks are theft, flood, fire and sabotage. Next, you should select solutions to help you prevent those risks. Or, after identifying which risks may be impossible to prevent, you can choose to accept them. Then, you need to implement the solutions you have identified, and consider purchasing insurance to cover any remaining risks. |
