Security For The Small Business's Computer Hardware

Now it's time to secure your computer hardware. First let's look at some statistics:

• Over 73% of those responding to a 2003 computer theft survey indicated they had lost from several days to more than a month's productivity because of a computer theft.
• Also in 2003, CNN reported that thieves walked away with eight whole computers from a top-secret nuclear research laboratory.
• The FBI estimates that 75% of computer theft is the work of employees or contractors and takes place at the office rather than during travel.
• Safeware, an insurance agency that specializes in coverage of computers and electronic equipment reports that 25% of loss claims for computers are due to theft. That's six times as many that are lost to power surges and twelve times as many lost to lightning!

• Lock It Down - A low-cost cable lock (think bike cable lock and you won't be far off) can be had for around $30.

  By gluing fasteners to your computer case, monitor and printer, you can pass the cable through the fasteners so that components cannot be moved individually. You can also pass the cable through some large, immovable object but, if a thief has privacy, the cable can be sawed or clipped.

• Really Lock It Down - The next step in security is a lockdown plate or entrapment case. These devices cost around $100 and actually consist of two plates or a plate and a box. One plate is bolted to a desk or table and another is attached via epoxy to the computer. In the case of an entrapment case, your computer is locked into a case which attaches to the locking plate. A lock attaches the two.

  Lockdown plates are a definite improvement over cable locks but they do have disadvantages, chief among which is that once locked down, your computers cannot easily be moved, not even an inch! You can unlock your hardware and temporarily move it, but unless you consistently lock it back in place you sacrifice the protection lockdown plates give you.

  Lockdown plates also require you to drill several sets of holes through your desks and tables which may make your furniture worthless later on.

• Sound the Alarm - Computer cables can be fitted with an alarm which will sound if the cable is cut. These alarms are powered by a single nine volt battery, usually housed within the lock itself.

  Once the cable is cut on many of these devices, the lock with the alarm is separated from the computer which may then be carried away leaving the screaming alarm sitting on an empty desktop. Look for models that attach the alarm directly to the computer so that the alarm will follow the computer thief as he carries the computer away. Even if the alarm is not that loud, it will draw attention to the thief and make it difficult for he or she to get away without being noticed.

• Alarm Inside a Computer - Computer Security Products make a computer alarm card that fits inside your desktop computer. The card can be attached from the computer to your monitor and printer to secure those devices as well.

  For a little over $100, this card will not only sound an alarm if the cable to other components is cut, but also if the computer is tilted or carried away without the alarm being deactivated. Powered by it's own battery, the alarm is working even when your computer is not.

• Lojack For Your Computer - For an annual subscription fee of about $50, you can install software on your laptop or computer that will report its whereabouts to authorities if it is stolen.

  Each and every time your computer is attached to the Internet, these software products silently connect to a main tracker server. If your computer is on file as stolen, the server gathers the IP address the stolen computer is connecting from and the company works with police to retrieve your hardware. Recovery rates are so good that some vendors of this type of software offer a $1,000 guarantee, payable to you if your computer is stolen and not recovered within a specified period of time.