Use Blank Laptops to Prevent Data Theft While Traveling

Like the expense account and the cell phone, computer laptops have become a staple of the traveling business person. In airports, on flights, in hotel rooms, and in taxis and automobiles, it's rare not to see somebody opening a briefcase and pulling one out to do a little work (and sometimes even a little play). With wireless connectivity available in many public places (some of it being free), and the increasing popularity--and decreasing cost--of Internet connectivity through your cell phone service, it's difficult to imagine why anybody would think a laptop shouldn't be an integral part of the traveler's luggage.

Except for the businesses.

For years the security of the laptop, and the data on it, has been a major reason why some companies refuse to allow their employees to travel with a laptop in tow. Mobility means damage--falling off laps, desks, chairs, recliners, or whatever else you happen to prop it up on to do your work. Mobility means loss--being left in an airport terminal, on a desk in a hotel room, in the trunk of a rental car. Mobility means theft--laptops are so popular that it's easy to understand why pilferage of the devices is on the rise. For all these reasons, mobility primarily means insecurity--the programs and data on the laptop are subject to damage, loss, or theft much more easily than they would be on a desktop computer, or on a file or application server in the company's LAN. And since we know that one of our first lessons on computing is to always maintain a current backup...well, like I said, mobility primarily means insecurity.

Eventually modern technology seems to come up with a way to resolve a problem, and this one is no exception. Enter the "blank laptop." No, it's not an albino Mac or an invisible PC. It's a laptop with nothing on the hard drive, period. No data files, no programs, not even an operating system. You connect to the company network via a cellular modem and VPN, giving you access to everything you have on your desktop in the office.

There are multiple advantages to the setup. With nothing on the hard drive itself, the company's only out the hardware if the laptop is lost or stolen. Applications and data remain on the company servers, which means they're backed up in the event you accidentally erase that spreadsheet you spent hours putting together. The disadvantages are that access through external devices, like USB memory drives, CD/DVD drives, or diskette drives (does anybody use those any more??) is denied. Access to the local hard drive is denied as well, so users can't install their favorite gaming software to play while on the plane or in the hotel room. And the business may restrict Internet access as well, preventing you from going to all those "interesting" sites you might otherwise check out when not at home.

With data becoming more and more marketable, keeping that data out of the hands of unauthorized individuals is becoming paramount. The blank laptop is the latest effort to save company data--and perhaps your job.