Keeping Personal Data Secure -- What Should You Do if You Lose Your Gear? Part 1: Don't Lose Your Gear.

John Wallach, a system administrator and security engineer in New York City, warns that if you lose your gear, “there’s not much you can do about the data if the filesystem wasn't encrypted.” Post-loss, he recommends changing your encryption keys and passwords and watching for unusual account access incidents.

With that bleak outlook, finding your equipment becomes an appealing way to secure your data after you lose your smartphone or laptop.

Oooookay. How do you not lose something you've lost? If your equipment and data is important, which I’m sure it is, run -- RUN back to get it and hope that it is not already in someone else's possession.

Unfortunately, usually what happens when someone finds your gear is that they look through the data on it. A recent study by Symantec showed that, for 50 found smartphones, finders attempted to access data on 48 of the phones. How long did it take for an access attempt to happen after the phone was lost? In most cases, less than an hour [1].

If it takes you less than an hour to realize you’ve lost your gear, definitely go back and get it -- Don't give up on finding your gear too soon.

Sometimes you've lost something, but no one has found it yet because it’s really, truly lost -- not just left behind. This happened to my $400 smartphone just days after I bought it. The smartphone was running a lot of out-of-the-box apps, including Google Latitude, and the battery died before I even knew it was missing. To find this phone, I enlisted the help of two friends with android devices. They logged in to Google Latitude and helped me triangulate the last-reported position of my Android.

Google Latitude pinpointed my device’s location to its clever hiding spot in the corner of a room, where I was able to find it even without being able to call it. Tracking applications might present long term privacy concerns, but in this case one of these apps saved me a $200 replacement fee and a lot of password-changing hassle.

Quick Tip:

• Use a location application like Google Maps to triangulate your lost device.
• This can work for a smartphone, laptop, or tablet if you get lucky
• This can work even after your battery dies.

Quick Caveat:

• If your device has been stolen and you use an app to find out who has it and where they are, enlist law enforcement to help you get your property back. Confronting a thief on your own can be dangerous and might cost you more than the device is worth.

Recap: Don’t lose your gear. If you do lose it, consider going to extraordinary measures to get it back, and good luck.

If your gear is stolen or irretrievably lost... try this: Keeping Personal Data Secure -- What Should You Do if You Lose Your Gear? Part 2

References & Resources

• [1] http://www.symantec.com/connect/blogs/introducing-symantec-smartphone-honey-stick-project
• There are lots of resources online about how to find things, like http://www.wikihow.com/Find-Lost-Objects.
• Another way to not lose your equipment is to get organized and develop great habits that don't ever allow you to leave a space without bringing *all* of your stuff with you. Pack it in, pack it out -- check your space before you leave. http://www.wikihow.com/Keep-Track-of-Your-Keys