Storing sensitive data on a laptop

It is important in case of loss or theft that your laptop is secure.

The following checklist will help ensure your laptop is secure: -

  • You should choose one of the following approaches: -
    • Encrypt the whole system (eg BitBlocker for Windows 7, FileVault for MacOS Lion and later)
    • Encrypt your home directory (FileVault for MacOS Panther and later, Encrypted Home for Ubuntu)
    • Store sensitive data on an encrypted volume or encrypted USB key using a tool such as TrueCrypt (1)
    • Individually encrypt files containing sensitive data
  • Use strong passwords, ideally for all accounts on your machine
  • If you habitually sleep your machine rather than shutting it down, so that if it were lost or stolen it might be in the sleep state, configure it to ask for a password on waking

Issues

  1. When storing sensitive data on an encrypted volume or USB key, be aware that many applications will store temporary unencrypted copies of that data in application temporary directories. You can reduce this risk by frequently running a tool such as the Windows disk cleaner utility.

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