Issue TOC Print full article Print this page Download as PDF E-Mail this URL Flame the author     In this article Introduction The Eighth Commandment Disk-Encryption Software Report Card: Disk Encryption Software Lockdown Devices Report Card: Lockdown Devices Recovery Services Report Card: Recovery Services Executive Summary File-Encryption Products

Securing a laptop against tampering and theft is tough, to say the least. For total protection, you need to load personal firewall, tracking and antivirus software; encrypt communications; and use authentication, drive encryption, remote backup and physical lockdown systems. That's at least seven pieces of software and two pieces of hardware to support, and if a user gets on a plane without (or worse, loses) his or her keys or tokens, say goodbye to several days of productivity.

It takes only a few seconds for a laptop to go from asset to liability. Physical lockdown cables and alarms are good deterrents, but they won't stop a determined thief, especially in a crowded public place. Assuming that laptops will be stolen, using tracking software and drive-level encryption programs will help protect and possibly recover lost data. Encrypting the entire drive will protect copies of documents that end up in temp, spool and swap files, a benefit you don't get from individual file/folder encryption. Recovery services can only work if a stolen laptop is reconnected to the Internet--they won't do much if the laptop is sold for parts.

Remote users connecting to the corporate LAN also need to be protected--you don't want a telecommuter introducing viruses into the network. This is where hostile-code blockers, such as firewalls, host-based IDSs (intrusion-detection systems) and antivirus software, come into play. It's important that these programs remain up to date with the latest definition files.

Our Editor's Choice award in the disk-encryption software category goes to WinMagic's SecureDoc 3.1, which lets you protect and hide data from multiple departments within your organization. Stolen proprietary data is the biggest liability for most companies, and disk encryption reduces the risk that your company's private intellectual property will become public. Among lockdown devices we give top honors to the ultra model of PC Guardian's Notebook Guardian, which took us more than 15 minutes to cut through. Stealth Security's Stealth Signal, with its expanded OS support and tenacious tracking, wins our Editor's Choice award in the recovery-services category.