Cubicle Security For Laptops, Electronics?

kamikasee writes "I recently found out that I'm going to be moved from an office to a cubicle. The cubicle area is not very secure, and I'm worried about things wandering off. My boss has offered to buy some equipment to help me secure things, but so far I haven't found anything that fits my requirements. Google and Amazon searches are overwhelmed by lockable key cabinets and larger pieces of furniture. Here are some of the requirements: The main issue with traditional solutions (e.g. locking things in a drawer) is convenience. I use a laptop with a second LCD monitor. There's also an external keyboard and mouse and a USB hard drive. I leave my laptop on at night so I can remote-desktop into it, so I'm not really happy about putting it in a drawer (no ventilation), plus I don't like the idea of having to 'unharness' everything every time I want to put it away. I don't trust cable locks. Besides, cable locks won't help me secure my the USB drive and other electronics that might wander off. The solution I imagine is a lockable, ventilated metal box that would sit under the monitor and house most of the electronics. If it was big enough, I could stick my laptop into it at night (while leaving it running) and feel confident that it would still be there in the morning. I'd be open to other types of solutions. Surely someone else must have dealt with this problem."

Comments

Physical and logical security

[mlts]

To the OP: How bad is the thievery rate? Is it a place where anybody can enter to possibly steal, or is it a place where you need locks to keep honest people honest?

You can get some decent cable locks that are Bic Pen resistant. I use these:

http://us.kensington.com/html/11208.html
on all my equipment, be it desktop or laptop. Of course, they can be cut, but it would be a dedicated effort to do so.

First, the locking cabinet is an idea, but of course if someone is desperate enough to cut cable locks, they likely will try for the cabinet if its not bolted down. You could go with a motion detecting alarm, or a locking cable that has an alarm that will sound if cut, but co-workers will get really annoyed if the system makes false alarms often.

Kensington's alarmed lock: http://us.kensington.com/html/6311.html

Second, have you considered a dock for your laptop, if one is available? Almost all docks have some way of locking the laptop to the dock either via a lever and a padlock or something using a Kensington lock slot. Then, you can hook all your monitors and items to the dock and just do a simple eject to hit the road with your laptop.

Third, have you considered logical security? If you are worried about data theft as opposed to physical, consider something like TrueCrypt that can encrypt your Windows boot/system drive, and also encrypt data on external drives. If you use keyfiles, after you type in your preboot passphrase, the external drives can automount while still providing security from thieves. For further protection, you can use TrueCrypt on external drives, and use PGP's whole disk encryption with a cryptographic hardware token. Then, you can use cable locks for your devices and if someone does steal one, it will be "merely" a hardware theft rather than hardware and sensitive data.

Last, if you can't find a metal box, have you considered hitting a metal shop with the dimensions of what you want for a cage, and having them weld you up one? I have had this done (and the cage bolted down solidly) when I wanted to make sure some file servers, switch, and a router would not be stolen. Even though I did not know who other than myself had the key to the room the equipment was in, only I had the key to that cage, so I knew that the equipment might be powered off or perhaps vandalized, it wouldn't be stolen without some major effort. A welder can use pinless hinges and tabs so someone attempting to break into the cage by a crowbar wouldn't be successful.

What condensation?

[raehl]

Condensation occurs when the temperature of an object is below the dew point. Dew points go up with an increase in humidity. But dew points are also generally lower than the atmospheric temperature, otherwise it'd be raining. You get dew when the air warms up faster than the ground warms up, so the moisture in the air condenses onto the ground.

But...

If the only thing in his fridge is his laptop, there won't be any moisture in there anyway.

Even if he puts lettuce or some other unsealed moisture-providing item into the fridge, the HOTTEST thing in the fridge, and thus the last thing to get any condensation, is going to be the laptop.

And, in general...

You don't see condensation IN a fridge. Go open your fridge now and tell me how many items in there have condensation on them. Maybe none?

It's when you take your items OUT of the fridge that moisture condenses onto them, since they are colder than the air they are in.

So, really, no condensation worries, as long as he doesn't take the laptop out of a cold fridge.

Re:Never dealt with that sort of problem

[vonFinkelstien]

Here is Sweden it is very common for drug addicts or organized crime gangs to break into schools and businesses at night to steal computers. LCD monitors and laptops are prime targets. The private school I teach at has had the teachers' room broken into 4 times in the past 2 years. Now, I put my monitor on the floor every night so thieves can't just look in the window and see easy pickings.