by Osvaldo Callegari
When a laptop is stolen at an airport or a convention raises questions, is it possible to recover it?
Making an analogy with fire systems, we say, Why install such a sensor or such a panel if the place is very safe? Until the unthinkable happens, an accident breaks out and we remember how useful an early detection would have been.
The same happens with our information, according to recent studies, executives prioritize their work and obligations before a backup of information in a timely manner. This has a reason for being, the backups are usually tedious and generate great waste of time, so we say that they risk not happening, similar to a fire.
Protection by necessity
A school in Washington's district, Kent College, uses a system to monitor the inventory of its computers and detect laptop theft.
With this new tool, the school administration carries out the management and control of notebooks.
This college is attended by 27,000 students from the communities of Kent, Covinton and Fairwood. This institution is recognized for the effort to bring information technologies to class.
This district began integrating notebooks into its programs in 1998. With the growth of the student community, he needed to control his entire computer park to prevent theft and have an accurate inventory, in addition to distributing equipment equitably throughout the forty buildings that the district owns.
Initially, they analyzed what other schools were doing in pursuit of good practices regarding the problem presented.
Initially the district implemented a plan to test the Computrace software of the company Absolute Software, they implemented it in 90 Tablet computers. After this stage they successfully expanded it to their 12,000 notebooks, plus desktop computers.
With this notebook management product, they significantly reduced the annual inventory to a five-minute printed report.
Permanent update with technology
Kent College has extensive experience in the benefits of mobile computers and the developments that can be made in their laboratories.
The district has a 4-to-1 ratio on average of students who own teams. And with the One-to-One program they plan to change the learning process by assisting each student with a computer.
To keep the testing of computers up to date, the school works directly with the manufacturer to update the notebook park every four years and every five the desktop ones, in this way the students do not work with equipment that hovers around obsolescence.
The director of information technology of this institution, Dr Thuan Nguyen, told us: "we experienced first-hand the impact of laptops on students in class, we have selected 180 students from schools with low level and with a very low rank in teaching, after two years of implementing this plan the students have reached the same level as other schools of greater reputation. " New institutional strategies and mobile teams are the primary reason for this fantastic improvement."
Managing notebooks in class: a challenge for IT
Kent Institution has shown that mobile computers (Notebooks, Netbooks) can help provide a better education for its students. The challenge for the school's IT department was having to manage the logistics of 12,000 computers in the hands of students scattered in 40 buildings.
Trying not to re-invent the wheel, Nguyen and his team analyzed how other schools managed their equipment. He said, "As educators we don't have to worry about competing with others." Consulting the equipment manufacturers, they were told that there were two important priorities: 1- knowing where the computer was 2- knowing if the equipment had been breached and/or stolen. They recommend Computrace to help them in this project.
How does asset management affect public funds?
In several districts, funds for asset management are achieved through a public domain process. Every four years the district proposes a detailed plan of the expenses involved in incorporating technology. This plan is reviewed and voted on in the community and by those responsible for the annual property tax funds.
Nguyen explains that "as the district's funds are public, we are forced to physically touch each computer to comply with the state's regulatory procedures. It is very important that we can demonstrate the accounting of the funds we receive from the community, so we needed a plan to refresh 2500 to 3000 computers every summer. This process was incredibly tedious. Before Computrace we had to assign 10 people to control the location of all computers for a period of more than three months."
"In the annual audit of notebooks, the IT staff must locate all the computers hidden in cabinets, it was 10 people with barcode readers trying to locate 12,000 computers, it was a huge effort. Now with Computrace we know where all the computers are, what before it took three months now we do it in 5 minutes with 99 percent effectiveness, "he adds.
Computrace achieves large-scale equipment management. The relationship with the manufacturer of the equipment made it possible to obtain integrated Computrace from its manufacture.
Kent now manages mobile and desktop computers using this system. Entering the customer service center, Nguyen and his team has indiscriminate access to the information of each computer for which they are responsible, their obligations are: location, active user, installed hardware and software, virus protection status. The control of installed software is also carried out, since students are prohibited from installing other software than that provided by the school.
When a computer is stolen, the system allows to locate it and in combination with the police they recover the equipment. Computrace can remotely erase the entire system when the notebook was stolen.
How does it work?
Computrace installs software that acts as an agent within each computer's firmware during the assembly process. This agent acts in silence, calling the monitoring center daily reporting the information from the computer, Kent's IT team can access this information through an Absolute online portal, the center of attention, in which complete information can be obtained from that equipment.
When a computer equipped with Computrace is reported stolen or stolen, the computrace agent sends a silent signal over the Internet to the monitoring center, providing critical location information. With support on the computer's firmware, the agent is able to survive operating system reinstallations, hard disk formatting, parts replacement, and disk image composition.
Deter theft
Computrace originally had a reputation as a deterrent to system theft and recovery. This caused Nguyen to investigate the product, "the district we visited told us that notebook theft could be an obstacle in an area as large as ours, so we sought help from Computrace to recover stolen computers. We found we could do much more, but in a district as big as ours time was crucial to solving the dilemma."
One Friday night, thieves entered a warehouse in the school and took a container with 30 notebooks complete with all the accessories. The local police were notified. Nguyen reported the theft to the Absolute Recovery Center. On Saturday morning, one of the stolen computers reported their location.
Absolute's team of law enforcement officers followed the computers until they reached an individual who said that the computer had been bought in a shopping mall, fortunately the next two computers found the thieves, who were arrested by the police and face charges of theft from a public institution.
On another occasion, a school principal suffered a carjacking, where his notebook was stolen. Concerned about the possibility that the information would fall into the hands of the thieves to use it against them, the Kent center opted to perform a remote erasure of the data to that computer, eliminating all sensitive information of the director, leaving in turn the equipment useless to the thieves.
This system says Nguyen is a reinsurance of our equipment/investment. Now when we buy new computers we are calmer because we have a better backup on them.
Plans for the future
As part of the One-to-One notebook program. The Kent College district plans to reach the 1:1 average and increase the computer park to 17,000 computer equipped with Computrace. "With the confidence we have now, we are obligated to protect our community by expanding investments in computer labs."
Steps to improve the security of your laptops
•Know the risks. Companies open their networks to the mobile workforce, there is a large exposure of data with great risks.
•Be Proactive. If you can't identify vulnerabilities let someone do it for you. Take courses from specialized organizations to improve your control, data security is a moving target that requires special attention.
•Use clamping cables in notebooks as visual deterrents. They are not entirely a method to prevent theft, but by forcing them it leaves traces on the equipment and it is no longer so easy to sell it in the stolen items market.
•When not using a computer, store it in a safe place. Security cabinets are convenient for storing this equipment, do not leave it adrift or implement a security policy with your employees.
•Do not leave equipment anywhere. A piece of equipment left in the back seat of a car is a temptation for thieves. Try to place it in the storage room discreetly.
•Use other types of bags to transport notebooks. If you use the standard attachés that notebooks bring today, anyone knows what they are carrying, for this purpose there are bags adapted to disguise their contents.
•Install antivirus, firewall and antispyware. Prevent unauthorized access through encryption programs.
•Back up your data in scheduled periods. The scheduling of backups by date are very effective in our oblivion.
•Create a contingency plan. Identify possible damage, have procedures if you have a mishap with your equipment, what measures would you take. Simulate a real situation.
•Use tracking programs against computer theft. With the possibility of new products your equipment has greater protection.
The brands and products mentioned are trademarks and products registered in their respective companies. Thanks to IT Director Dr Than Nguyen.
*If you wish you can write to the author at the email [email protected]
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