Be Aware of ThievesTraveling with a laptop is risky business. Since state-of-the-art digital equipment is in great demand, laptops (and digital cameras) can disappear faster than you would believejust take your eyes off your computer bag for a split second in an airport or Internet cafe and it could be gone. Be extra careful in big, busy Internet cafes in big cities. Professional thieves know that tourists usually put their bags down on the floor while they send email back home.
Theft AlarmsOne way to help protect your laptop is to use a wireless proximity alarm. These alarms usually consist of two pieces, a small transmitter that you put in your computer bag and a small receiver that you keep in your pocket or on a keychain. When the two devices are separated by more than the preset distance (around 15 feet), a loud alarm goes off. Other alarm types detect any motion of the computer and cause your keychain device to make a chirping sound. You can remotely set off the alarm if your laptop is being stolen. To find wireless laptop alarms, search the web for "laptop theft alarms" or "laptop security systems" to find a variety of devices.
Track Down a Stolen LaptopAs another safeguard, you can buy and install tracking software that includes a tracking service. If your laptop gets stolen, the happy new owner will probably use it to connect to the Internet. Any time your laptop connects to a phone line or the Internet, a distress signal is sent to the tracking service. This information provides the information necessary to locate the phone number and/or IP address being used by your missing computer. The tracking service works with local authorities, ISPs, and telephone companies to locate the computer. Some services even provide the ability to delete sensitive files remotely from the missing laptop. A good place to start your search for laptop tracking services is StealthSignal's xTool Computer Tracker (www.StealthSignal.com). To find other options, search the web for "laptop tracking software."
Disable Automatic LoginDo you enter a password when you open your laptop and start up? If you're traveling with that laptop, you should. Your Mac doesn't ask for a password when you've got "automatic login" turned on. And if there's no password, then anyone who steals your Mac has access to everything on it.
To turn off the automatic login for your account:
Secure Empty TrashNormally, when you put files in the Trash and then "Empty Trash," the files aren't really thrown away. The file name is removed from the disk directory, but the file is still there until the computer overwrites that space on the hard disk with new data. That's why some disk utilities are able to recover files you've thrown away.
If you've moved sensitive files to the Trash, you can make sure they can't be recovered. From the Finder menu, choose "Secure Empty Trash." This command overwrites files that are in the Trash with erroneous data, making them completely unrecoverable. Private BrowsingWhen you visit web sites, Safari keeps a history of where you've been so you can easily retrace your steps back to a site of interest. It also creates the possiblity that curious snoopers could check to see which sites you've visited, hoping to learn something confidential about you. But in Safari you can turn on "Private Browsing." When you do this, web pages are not added to the History menu, form information isn't saved for AutoFill (including names and passwords), search terms are not added to the pop-up menu in the the web search box, and items are automatically removed from the Downloads window. The Back and Forward buttons still work until you close the Safari window.
To turn on "Private Browsing," go to the Safari menu and choose "Private Browsing" (shown to the left). It turns itself off every time you quit, so when you restart Safari, you'll have to turn it back on again. To turn off private browsing, return to the Safari menu and choose "Private Browsing" again to remove the checkmark next to it. Or quit Safari. Empty the CacheYou might also want to choose "Empty Cache..." from the Safari menu whenever you're finished working on the Internet so no one can go see which pages you've been to recently by looking in your cache folder. Clear the HistoryAt any time, whether or not you are using "Private Browsing," you can always go to the History menu and choose "Clear History" to get rid of the list of web pages you've visited. Extra Security FeaturesThe Security preferences offer several security features that won't prevent your laptop from getting stolen, but will prevent thieves from having access to your data. Open System Preferences and choose "Security."
Encrypt Your Home Folder with FileVaultFor serious privacy, data encryption is the solution. Encryption scrambles the selected data and it can only be unscrambled by entering the correct password. For total data security, use FileVault. FileVault encrypts your entire Home folder using 128-bit AES encryption (theoretically un-hackable). It protects the entire contents of your Home folder, yet you can work with your files. This might be most important in this kind of scenario: You're working on your laptop, get distracted, and someone swipes it right out from under you. You've got your sleep feature password-protected (see the previous page), so he can't get to your data. So the disgusting little creep who stole your laptop slithers home, inserts a startup disk, and proceeds to reinstall the operating system, but doesn't replace your Home folder and files, hoping to get to them. Aha! Foiled againif you've got FileVault turned on.
Encrypt Only Selected Files and FoldersIf you have just a few files or folders you want to make secure, you may not want to use FileVault to encrypt your entire Home folder. Instead, you can store critical data inside an encrypted, password-protected disk image. This is not an "on-the-fly" feature; that is, you will have to open the disk image every time you want to use the file. A disk image is a package of data, useful for storing files or for transferring files to others. You can choose to encrypt, compress, and/or password-protect the data.
A disk image looks like this. Double-click it when you want to open it. You'll get an icon that looks like a removable drive, as shown below.
To make a disk image:
Secure Your Sharing PreferencesWhen connected to a network (wireless or wired), you can prevent access to folders on your computer. Use the "Sharing" preferences.
Advanced Firewall SettingsMake your computer even more secure with advanced firewall settings: Click the "Advanced" button (above-right), then checkmark "Block udp Traffic" (used by some servers that may interfere with some network applications, such as Voice over ip), "Enable Firewall Logging" (creates a firewall activity log), and "Enable Stealth Mode" (ensures that uninvited network traffic receives no responseand makes hacking your computer nearly impossible). |