The issue of laptop security within any large organisation is high on the list of priorities for IT Managers.  Police information indicates that criminals who target laptops are very organised, planning, monitoring and watching the movements of business personnel.  Laptops are an easy target for thieves, quickly popped into a bag or under a coat and away!  Loss of a laptop could mean loss of critical and confidential information, causing serious disruption to a business, embarrassment and financial loss, not to mention the legal implications relating to the security breach.

Whilst Managers maintain an inventory of all department laptops and offer simple good housekeeping advice to employees, such as, never leave a laptop unattended, don't advertise your laptop, carry it around in a discreet bag, security mark it, lock it away, use a laptop lockdown device, protect data with passwords and change them regularly and back up all critical files frequently and routinely, despite these good intentions, laptop crime is on the increase. 

Last year around 100,000 laptops were stolen from vehicles alone. Add to that figure the laptops stolen on public transport, from offices and homes and it is easy to understand that companies claim losses from stolen computers could run as high as 50,000.

This is no less of a problem for the Police themselves.  The City of London Police decided two years ago, after several high profile cases relating to the theft of laptops on trains, to address the problem within their own organisation.  Gary Brailsford, Information Manager in the Technology Unit, based at Wood Street Police Station, London, was assigned with the task of addressing laptop security for the force.  Gary is responsible for all technical security, as well as physical security ?door entry systems etc. 

Gary says "We are not too concerned about the loss of the machine but we do care about the data".  Gary wanted a solution that secured critical data without total encryption, offering scalability and manageability, which was simple to deploy.  Performance was also an issue and he needed to enforce the usage of the encrypted drive, so it had to be easy for users.  Gary evaluated separate software and physical security options, which he decided were too complicated, before purchasing KeyDrive ll. 

KeyDrive ll combines encryption software with an authentication key, giving the highest level of security, with ease of use.  The software creates an encrypted virtual drive which can only be viewed by inserting a key, which has been authenticated with a user PIN at set up, in the laptop USB port.  Files can be read, saved, copied and deleted as with any other drive, but remove the key and it disappears.

Prior to implementation, Gary asked the Cyber Crime Team, highly trained specialists in data recovery, to try to break KeyDrive with non-destructive testing but they couldn't!  They were able to read the file name of the hidden file, but were unable to access any data.

The Police have very specific needs for secure, shared information.  For example, the Covert Operations Team shares a laptop, which can be taken by any member of the team to different locations.  Insertion of the key means the laptop drive can be sequentially shared by all.  Gary comments "there is always the problem of security vs. accessibility, but KeyDrive gives us the balance, a high level of security with a user friendly interface.  However, human error is still one of our biggest risks and we need to influence the culture of staff." 

Probably the most likely scenario is someone loosing the key.  Gary can confirm that this has already happened, however, the routine recovery process was followed and Gary confirmed that "it was simple".