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Thread: A Real Conundrum :/

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    Super Moderator Jonj1611's Avatar
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    A Real Conundrum :/

    Right, well since the neighbour got burgled recently I have been hot on the case of encrypting the hard drives on the laptops and setting bios & hard drive passwords and also installing tracking software.

    And here is the problem.

    If I make it so the hard drives are useless then my tracking software is also dead in the water, if they cannot access the bios and realise they cannot use the hard drives, then obviously you would swap the hard drive for another and just clear the bios, but then my tracking software is also gone and I would never got the laptop back at all.

    Sooooo, what do you do, leave the laptop open so it can be booted and at least have half a chance of finding out who took the laptop or leave it all encrypted so that while they may not get your data, you wont see your laptop again either :/

    What would you do???
    Jon

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    It depends what you think the odds of getting it back with the tracking software is, and I guess the nature of the data which could be compromised.

    I've never really been convinced. Sure you may get it back, and it's better than nothing but it's a long shot.
    The ideal solution would be to encrypt and make sure anything important is backed up off site (or cloud)

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    Re: A Real Conundrum :/

    Surely the option is to secure the house and not the laptops?

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    Re: A Real Conundrum :/

    Well I say house, but I could be on the train or in the car, or anyplace someone can take a laptop from, none of the data on the hard drives is special in anyway.
    Jon

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    Not a good person scaryjim's Avatar
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    Re: A Real Conundrum :/

    Use encrypted volumes within the laptop for any critical data? Truecrypt will let you create an encrypted file on your HDD that you can then mount as a drive - that way your data files stay safe, but your laptop will still boot up and track itself!

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    Re: A Real Conundrum :/

    Hey Scaryjim,

    Yeah, this is following on from my whole disk encryption thread. I think I made another one as well regarding just encrypting the user data. I managed to encrypt the whole hard drive but definitely think the encrypted file method will be better, Truecrypt seems to have a dizzying array of what it can do so think I am going to have to sit down with the program later and try and work out if I can get the best of both worlds.
    Jon

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    Re: A Real Conundrum :/

    If the data is not really speical, why would you care to crypt it?

    Also, personally, I see this is as a step backwards, instead of worrying about what if it's get stolen, why not just take better care of it?

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    Re: A Real Conundrum :/

    It isn't about whether I want to encrypt it or not, the question was about stopping someone using the laptop or at least my stuff on the laptop if it ever got stolen, and whether it was best to just lock the computer up so tight as to whoever took it would need to ditch the hard drive or allow access in the hope the tracking software can locate it.

    And take better care of it? So if someone broke into my house, how would I not be taking better care of it? I am not exactly sure what your point is.
    Jon

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    Re: A Real Conundrum :/

    Quote Originally Posted by Jonj1611 View Post
    It isn't about whether I want to encrypt it or not, the question was about stopping someone using the laptop or at least my stuff on the laptop if it ever got stolen, and whether it was best to just lock the computer up so tight as to whoever took it would need to ditch the hard drive or allow access in the hope the tracking software can locate it.

    And take better care of it? So if someone broke into my house, how would I not be taking better care of it? I am not exactly sure what your point is.
    Quote Originally Posted by Jonj1611 View Post
    Well I say house, but I could be on the train or in the car, or anyplace someone can take a laptop from, none of the data on the hard drives is special in anyway.
    If you leave it on a train or in a car or any other place, then you not taking good care of it are you?

    If you encrypt it, it won't stop the person who stole it from not using it, they could easy just wipe the HDD out, but I guess that protects your data since they lose access to it.

    But if you really must, then like someone has already said, Truecrypt is the best I believe.

    You could also install some keylogging software on the PC, so if it get's stolen and connects to the Internet, you can track it, like this guy did in this video.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4oB28ksiIo

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    Re: A Real Conundrum :/

    I have already installed tracking software so thats not a problem. And to be honest I don't really need lessons in looking after things, the question was if it was taken, I mean being mugged or something doesn't mean you haven't taken good care of it, nor leaving it in your own home, and at the end of the day, I am trying to find an answer or at least an opinion on what would be the best method, encrypt the data so the hard drive can't be used or leave the laptop fairly open so the tracking software will kick in.

    As mentioned in another thread of mine I have already used truecrypt but have come to the conclusion that I don't need whole disk protection, just enough protection to create a volume where I could store the personal data and if it was ever taken, data is still secure yet laptop can still be accessed.
    Jon

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