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These services do work, as long as the local police are responsive to finding and retrieving the device. Is it worth the investment? There is no generic answer to that. The reality is a machine itself is worth a couple hundred bucks. This is a traditional insurance calculation. Security professionals should figure out the likelihood of their machine being stolen and its replacement value, and then make a decision on whether the insurance is a good bet – especially when there is no guarantee the machine will be recovered.
Another aspect of this decision isn't so much the value of the machine, but the value of the data it contains. If private data is kept on the device, then retrieving it as quickly as possible is critical, unless it has some type of full-disk encryption, so even if it is stolen and not recovered, the data on the computer is not exposed. Of course, if the machine's data is not backed up properly, the data could be invaluable.
Currently many more organizations opt for full-disk encryption over LoJack-type services. So I think it's safe to say that for a lot of organizations, the investment is not worth it.
More information:
- Read about a recent LoJack release for laptops.
- Learn some common encryption worst practices that may be compromising laptop data.
This was first published in February 2008
Security Management Strategies for the CIO
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