Devoted to women of color in business

Many of you are on the move with your trusty laptop computer. Do you go on vacation with your machine? Or do you have a handheld device with important contact information or project details on it? How about your cellphone?

Now's the time to consider how to keep your information safe in case of theft.

Consider the following cases:

• Last month, the Equifax credit reporting company said a laptop was stolen from an employee who was in England at the time: there were employee names and Social Security numbers on that laptop.
  
• Almost 26.5 million names with confidential information were stolen from a data analyst with the Department of Veteran Affairs when someone broke in and stole a laptop.
  
• ING Americas, a financial-services company, recently disclosed that a laptop with 13,000 Washington DC area employees' retirement information was stolen from an individual agent's home.

What can you do to keep your information safe?

1) Check your company's policies about privacy, confidentiality, and transferring information from main servers to laptops.

2) Be particularly aware of Social Security, birthdate, financial, and other identifiable information such as passwords and logins

3) Always log off your machine and shut it down when finished

4) Install anti-theft devices like tracking software

5) Lock your machine in a safe space!