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Lock Your Devices!
Do you shut your car windows when you leave it? The answer is most likely “yes” since you do not want people getting into your car and taking things or vandalizing the interior in any way. Just like your car, you need to make sure you do the same with your laptop, desktop, or cell phone. Many of the security solutions we discuss and support for our clients include software that gets installed and managed by Thrive to help further protect the assets of the client.
When traveling for business I often observe things that can be discussed with new and existing Thrive clients to bolster their security posture. On a recent train ride, I was reminded that not all security comes in the form of a piece of software that Thrive needs to manage. I watched as a gentleman got up to take a phone call in private and left his email up on the screen and the laptop unlocked. He was an attorney and had left some confidential information on his screen. If he had a privacy filter installed on the laptop, I would not have known he had left the computer unlocked. After ten minutes he returned and luckily no one had done anything with the email or his computer in that time. This is not an uncommon occurrence. On almost every flight and train one can watch someone using a computer, tablet, or phone get up and walk away from it without locking the device.
If you are unaware of how to easily lock your computer here are a few tips to help:
Microsoft Windows:
- Press the Windows key + L
- Press Control-Alt-Delete and hit enter
- Press Control-Alt-Delete and click on “Lock Computer”
Macs:
macOS Catalina
- Go to the Apple menu and click Lock Screen
- Press Command+Control+Q
Older versions of the operating system
- Press Control+Shift+Power button
- Press Control+Shift+Eject if your Mac has an optical drive