Article published with permission from Small Business Technology Magazine1
It's Friday morning. Your week is almost over. One last signature, a hand shake and the Cincinnati deal is in the bag.
You arrive at the bustling JFK airport. Business people are heading home, college kids are dragging weekend duffle bags towards check-in and young couples are escaping for a romantic weekend. All you want to do is get to Cincinnati, close the deal and get home in time to tuck the kids into bed.
Time for the security screening. As you inch forward in the mile-long line, your mind wanders to the million tasks you need to catch up on. You know the security drill so well your jacket and shoes are off before you even realize it and your notebook computer is in its own separate bin. The guy in front of you? A security line rookie. His belt is off, watch is in the bin. Off he goes. "Beep!" He forgot the coins. "Beep!" Forgot the cell phone. Ok, he made it through and everyone behind you sighs. Now it's your turn. All clear. You zip through the metal detector and start reequipping yourself. You slip on your shoes and jacket and then... grab the briefcase, and then you see the empty bin. What about the computer? Hey, where is the notebook? No way, it's gone!
You spend an hour trying to make sense of it, filling out forms and yelling at people, only to realize that what you're really mad about is not losing your computer, but losing your data. The Cincinnati proposal, your contacts, the project plans, your customer information, even your kids pictures were all in your laptop and now they are gone. Gone for good!
Now what? Well, now you have to ask yourself a few hard questions.
1.
Can any confidential data be accessed by a third party? If yes, review your confidentiality agreements and take immediate action.
2.
Can any financial information from you or your customers or vendors be accessed... Social Security numbers, EIN numbers, banking information? If yes, immediately inform those customers, vendors and financial institutions that a breach of confidential information may have occurred and explain to what extent.
3.
When is the last time I backed up my information and what information is not backed up? The moment of truth: access your backups and restore the most recent one on a new computer.
4.
How do I successfully restore my backed up data? Consult your backup software manual or visit the software vendor's website.
5.
Does my business insurance provide coverage for lost or stolen computers outside of my work premises? Check your insurance policy or contact your insurance broker and explain what happened. Some policies cover theft outside of the actual business premise.
6.
What projects and activities will be delayed due to the loss? Account for all possible delays in a "worse case scenario" and inform team members, customers and vendors of timeline implications.
Hopefully, you'll have an answer for each of these questions and life will go on. Remember though, if you're not prepared, the loss of your notebook computer could become a catastrophic event for your business. If you prepare, it may likely be just an annoyance. It is not about the value of the hardware, it's about the consequences of losing control of your data.
Tips for secure mobility
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Do not leave your laptop unguarded, ever. Better safe than sorry.
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Backup your data frequently. This allows you to minimize the impact of your loss and reduce the downtime.
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Encrypt sensitive data or even your entire hard drive. This minimizes confidentiality issues.
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Carry a spare external drive with a copy of your laptop drive. This will allow you to ramp-up quickly after your loss and allow you for access to all your files from a temporary computer. It also protects you from hardware failures.
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Use a smartphone-type mobile phone that allows for synchronization of calendar and contact information, and possibly to send and receive email as well. This gives you a way to stay in touch and keep going while you deal with your notebook loss.
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Subscribe to a hardware tracking service. This helps find the thieves and retrieve your assets.
Don't break a sweat
I spend a large amount of my time on the road using my notebook as my primary business tool. Here's why I don't worry about it being stolen.
I always carry an exact copy of my hard drive–operating system and all data–replicated using Symantec Ghost. Once a week I copy a new image of my hard drive on an identical one enclosed in an external USB 2 case that does not require an additional external power supply. If my notebook is stolen, I can go online and reorder the same one, and when I receive it I can swap the hard drive with the spare one and I am up and running instantly. I back up my entire hard drive once a week on a very large external drive that is about three times the size of my notebook drive.
All my business data is replicated in real time on our company's Microsoft Small Business Server. Every time I go online, the local and server copies of my key business folders get synchronized. If I lose access to my laptop I can access all key business data remotely from any computer connected to the Internet. All my email, calendaring and contacts are replicated in real time the same way, and can be accessed via a browser interface if I do not have my notebook.
My cell phone is an HP 6515 Mobile Messenger. It synchronizes all my email, contact, to dos, calendar entries in real time using the EDGE network. I can even run presentations from it by connecting to a digital projector. All sensitive data on my laptop is encrypted using Steganos Security Suite.
The bottom line is that if I lose my notebook, I can continue doing business almost as usual, with little inconvenience and wasted time.
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1Andrea Peiro is CEO of the Small Business Technology Institute
Small Business Technology Magazine and its guest contributors are responsible for the information in this article.
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