Go Back Up

Did you know that laptop theft, even from the most "so-called" secure places like a safe in a hotel room, is on the RAMPAGING RISE?
Did you realize that laptop theft is one of those classical cases where 1+1 equals more than 3? - at least to you, in terms of personal damage, and... even worse, to your employer or company?
Some estimate an average laptop, say from a mid-level manager, to contain up to 100.000€ of valuable data, that (you betcha) any hacker can extract, whether you have standard encryption or not...

Our advise: watch your machine! back it up: all the time - and get insurance in the form of weapons-grade encryption mechanisms and fire-proof redundant back-up systems.

Alternatively, you can just simply stop storing stuff, go out, sniff a breeze of automn and enjoy life without wires!

Further Reading: Study on 128 stolen from 29 companies: http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2009/04/report-average-stolen-laptop-cost-is-50k-intel-buy-vpro.ars

$50,000 average cost as follows:

Laptop replacement cost: $1,582
Detection & escalation cost: $262
Forensics & investigation cost: $814
Data breach cost: $39,297
Intellectual property loss: $5,871
Lost productivity cost: $283
Other legal and regulatory costs: $1,117

Perhaps the most counterintuitive result from the study is that having a full backup of the lost or stolen laptop actually increases the average incident cost by almost 50 percent. The theory put forth for this by Ponemon is that "the backup makes it easier to confirm the loss of sensitive or confidential data (i.e., ignorance is bliss hypothesis)."

A Classic Case of Bad Communications

It's time to hide the valuables under the mattress... and buy a gun

Blackberry Ban in France

Various news sources are reporting that the widespread use of Blackberry devices can pose a threat to business and national security! In France, the DGSE intelligence agency has advised the new Sarkozy-Government to ban Blackberry's from their offices: the reason: the servers are hosted in the UK and the USA, which could compromise French governmental communications. Reports further indicate that nowadays, businessmen on the bring of engaging in confidential business discussions/signing of deals are pulling the batteries out of their Berries to show their absolute honesty...

• Members of the new French cabinet have been told to stop using their BlackBerries because of fears that the US could intercept state secrets ...
• US bankers would prove their bona fides in meetings by first placing their Black­Berries on the table and removing the batteries

http://www.france24.com/france24Public/en/news/science/20070619-blackberry-france-french-government-spy-le-monde-nsa-US.html
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/dde45086-1e97-11dc-bc22-000b5df10621.html