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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."
Get a webcam that records & uploads what's happening inside your cubicle.
Then you can catch the thieves & get your stuff back.
* Game Over * High Score: 264,846,927 -- Your Score: 14
Every desk that I've had, whether it's been in an office, a cubicle, or just a table in the middle of a large room has been accessible to virtually everyone who works there. And yet, shockingly, nothing has disappeared on me.
The most I've done security-wise is to avoid leaving some of the more likely theft targets out in the open, but I've never worried about actually locking them away.
In the companies that I have worked for, if things disappear off of desks, someone (co-workers, cleaning staff, whatever) is going to be fired for it.
William of Ockham had no beard. The most likely explanation is that it was chewed off by squirrels every morning.
If you are bringing personal items (USB drive, iPod, cellphone, etc.) to work with you there are a few options:
- Leave this stuff at home
- Don't let it out of your sight and take it with you when you leave for lunch (this is what I do with my iPod/cellphone/etc. when working, although I can leave it out on my desk in plain sight and it will still be there later because my coworkers are not douchebags)
- Keep these items in a plain unassuming backpack under your desk
- Lock these items in a desk drawer when you are in the office and don't leave them at work
Also, why do you have a laptop if you're just going to leave it in the office when you go home? I've worked at places where that was grounds for dismissal. Don't they have a VPN where you work?1) biometric finger print reader
2) cable lock for laptop and external monitor(they really are quite good)
3) pre boot authentication (integrated with finger pricnt reader)
4) full disk encryption - Utimaco Safeguard Easy (integrated with finger pricnt reader)
5) data dot dna (tiny dots with serial numbers that can be stuck/hidden on your equipment)
6) Computrace (software that cannot easily be removed and so when your stolen machine connects to the internet it will send its location to the computrace who will work with the ISP local law enforment to retrieve the stolen machine)
7) SafeEnd End point security, individually controls/records usb, i/o, ethernet ports
8) insurance
i got all this with my thinkpad, not because my co-workers are theives but because my companies insurance premiums are high and i have sensitive customer data on my machine which is required by law to be encrypted.
serenity now!
I work at a very large medical school in the Bronx with real professionals and trust everyone who gets a badge. Thus it was strange when a rash of laptop thefts hit the complex that I work in. Each disappearance happened in broad daylight, oftentimes when a researcher had just stepped out to smoke a cigarette, go to the bathroom etc.
You would be amazed at how quickly a person's progressive attitude is changed when their laptop is stolen. The European researchers blamed the Chinese, the Chinese blamed the South Americans and the Americans (myself included) .... blamed other Americans. In either case, morale in the entire place was shot. People were seen bringing their laptops into the bathroom (for non-masturbatory purposes!). No one trusted anyone else.
After almost a hundred thefts security stopped a guy in a Fed-Ex uniform with a bag full of laptops. He got past the checkpoint by claiming that his packages had to be signed in person by the noted party (warning bells? We have a loading dock and people to do that.). When the cops came, he confessed only to stealing the laptops in his bag and claimed that it was his first time. The laptop thefts stopped for a few weeks.... and then started back up!
In the end it turned out to be one of the security guards. No one would have caught him if he hadn't been storing hot laptops IN HIS LOCKER. So the moral of the story is that if someone wants to steal your unattended laptop, they will.
At Steelcase largest maker of those cubicle systems, even the CEO is in a cubicle.
My daughter got one of these toy safes with a "laser" security system. You have to teach it a passcode, and it won't open without it. But if you disrupt the little beams across its door, it starts an annoying klaxon and light-show that lasts a long 30 seconds. I cringed at her must-be-secure attitude, locking up her little valuables, especially since she's an ONLY CHILD. I tripped it "accidentally" a couple times just so she would feel like it was doing its job.
However, I'm quite happy with how it backfired. Very valuable security lessons! It has taught her that security is inversely proportional to convenience, that the more complicated a mechanism is the more likely it will fail, that honestly accidental infractions can't be prosecuted like infractions with intent, and when a security system fails she can't access her own stuff. It eats batteries like crazy. It acts stupid when the batteries are low, so she has to recode it every week or two. Also, it blinks red at weird intervals all night to remind her that either she can't trust people around her, or she is being unnecessarily paranoid. I think the safe is now without batteries and empty.
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I just think it's somewhat shocking that over 90% of our cleaning and cafeteria crews are Hispanic, and over 90% of our security guards are African American. That in and of itself seems like some sort of unnatural self-selection.
Program Intellivision!