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1Laptops Are Tops
2Mini Threat
3Growing Risk
4Data Discord
According to the Theft Resource Center, the number of reported data breaches in the United States in 2008 hit 656, nearly 50 percent more than in 2007. The organization puts the number of data records exposed at roughly 35.7 million, but concedes the actual number could be much higher. Some of these breaches can be attributed to sophisticated hackers or disgruntled employees, but many are the result of lost or stolen laptops.
5Cost Control
6Code Talkers
Full disk encryption is key to laptop security initiatives. According to various industry and government regulations, the only scenario in which a lost or stolen corporate laptop does not have to be reported as a data breach is if it is fully encrypted. This preventive measure can save the organization from extensive customer notification costs, large legal fees and untold damage in the form of negative brand perception, according to endpoint data protection vendor GuardianEdge.
7Enhanced BitLocker
8Built-in Protection
Ericsson will integrate Intel’s new Anti-Theft PC Protection technology into its mobile broadband modules. This will allow a user or IT department to send an SMS text message to the laptop that will disable the PC and protect stored data. Lenovo and Phoenix Technologies are offering similar capabilities with Lenovo’s ThinkPad notebooks.
9Automation Nation
Trellia Networks has launched new software to address enterprises’ growing need to automate and enforce security policies on mobile work force laptops. The company’s MPME (Mobile Policy Management and Enforcement) solution supports central management of essential security policies for network selection, VPN, proxy and bridging prevention.
10Biometric Protection
Passwords are exploding and require constant vigilance—from steady rotation to the use of differentiated passwords across accounts—to maintain security best practices. “You don’t need to remember all of those changing passwords if you place security at your fingertips. Eighty percent of enterprise laptops today have fingerprint readers built into the system, making enterprise security a snap,” said Vance Bjorn, CTO and co-founder at DigitalPersona, a biometric identity protection solutions provider.