Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/7359
14 MESSAGING NEWS FEBRUARY 2010 T here is no end to the investment you can make in securing your organization's collabora- tion systems. In previous articles in this magazine, we have discussed collaboration system security from various perspectives: the risks in using hosted collaboration systems (2007), how to share documents in a secure way (2008), and most recently, a more general look at security con- siderations for collaboration systems (2009). But what happens if we make perfect investments in securing our collaboration systems, only to have end-users lose the devices they use to access those systems? With the proliferation of laptop- and smart- phone-toting end-users, we have the makings of a disaster, if these devices are lost or compromised. What can we do to minimize these risks? The Laptop Back in 2008, the Ponemon Institute, a research think tank, claimed that 10,000 laptops are lost or stolen each week at 36 major airports across the United States. The number seems suspect based on the methodology outlined, but even if it's 10x too many, that's still a lot of laptops being lost or stolen each week! And that just reflects U.S. numbers. How can we mitigate against the risk of having your end-users lose their laptop? The first action is to work on the security of the physical device. Give people laptops that are light and easy to carry around. If your people have heavy and unwieldy laptops that strain their backs and make lug- ging the thing around a chore, it's time to check out some of the newer, lighter laptops. Perhaps having a heavy laptop is sufficient motiva- tion for some staff to leave the thing behind by mistake! Another way to minimize the physical threat of loss within airports is to issue your staff with one of the newer checkpoint friendly laptop bags, that allow lap- tops to clear airport security without being taken out of the bag. The basic idea of a checkpoint friendly bag is that since a laptop has to be scanned by itself, with no interference from other items in the bag, newer laptop bags are specially constructed to al- low the isolated scanning of the lap- top while remaining in the bag. For example, the Mobile Edge ScanFast Checkpoint Friendly Briefcase splits in half via a zipper and then lies flat to be scanned. The laptop is in one compartment, and everything else BY MICHAEL SAMPSON Security and Collaboration Systems: Let's Not Forget the Simpler Actions