Laptop Security Best Practices: 10 Tips to ensure your laptop is secured

| Yulia Volyntseva Last updated 2 Apr, 2023

Laptop Security Best Practices: Because computer security procedures are sometimes overlooked until a problem arises, a security breach may have catastrophic effects. Adopting laptop security best practices is critical since it safeguards your data.

Furthermore, it is critical for the overall health of your computer since robust security guards keep malware and viruses at bay, allowing software to run more swiftly and smoothly.

You may do many things and take preventative steps to protect your laptop and its data. Below, we will go over every laptop security precaution, providing a list of 10 laptop security best practices business users should be adopting. First, let’s go through the risks of laptop security.

Why is Laptop Security Important?

Laptop security is critical for a variety of reasons.

First, laptops hold vital data such as login passwords, financial information, and personal information. This information is readily available and might be misused if a laptop falls into the wrong hands.

Second, laptops are vulnerable to viruses, malware, and other online threats that may compromise the device’s security and compromise your data.

Finally, computers are often utilized in public places such as airports or coffee shops, where they are more vulnerable to physical damage or theft.

Why are laptops prone to security issues and threats?

The versatility of a laptop is both an asset and a security concern. In an untrustworthy environment, employees view and handle private data, service information, and corporate secrets.

Data breaches and information compromise thrive when individuals work on laptop computers.

There are a few other reasons and scenarios that may help you understand the nature and origins of the problem, as well as the susceptibility of laptops without adequate security:

Due to its compactness, the laptop is easy to lose: It may also be stolen during shipment or utilized outside of the organization’s regulated territory. Without sufficient encryption, the attacker will have access to every piece of information saved on the laptop, with all its ramifications.
A laptop is a closed hardware structure: Parts replacement or self-repair are nearly usually restricted under warranty. As a result, if the laptop fails, the IT service sends it to a certified and recognized service facility. Transferring a frozen or inoperative laptop to other parties carries a considerable risk of information loss since service center staff may be possible intruders. At the same time, unauthorized access and information copying from such a laptop cannot be logged and hence cannot be proven.
The abundance of communication ports is a vital characteristic of a modern laptop: It should be a distinct focus for information security departments since the more communication ports there are, the more channels and potential information leakage situations there are.
Work processes require an intensive exchange of information: This presents a significant difficulty for the information security service since monitoring USB ports on a laptop running outside the regulated area is difficult.

As a result, your laptop is a highly contentious instrument for addressing corporate challenges. It provides excellent advantages while necessitating additional attention from the organization’s security personnel.

10 Laptop Security Best Practices to ensure your laptop is secured:

Following are the steps you can take to secure your laptop and its information:

Use a password

Make sure your Windows account is password-protected. The laptop should be set up such that the password is required every time you power it on or when it exits hibernation, sleep, or screensaver mode.

Account passwords are an excellent initial line of security, but only if they are not regularly used or readily guessed.

Disable booting from CD and USB

It’s simple to alter or erase an account password using a free password reset tool, but doing so requires booting the computer from a CD or USB stick. You may boost security by removing the ability to boot from one of these devices.

This is accomplished by modifying your laptop’s fundamental input/output settings. The machine’s built-in software containing generic code may be accessed by hitting F1, F4, F10, or DEL immediately after turning it on.

Use a VPN

Use a VPN service that encrypts the communication between you and the server to safeguard your privacy when using public Wi-Fi and to prevent your internet provider from monitoring your browser history.

This makes it hard for anyone on the same network to trace your activities.

Encrypt your hard drive

If your laptop is taken from your vehicle or hotel room, the burglar is typically free to remove the hard drive and connect it to another computer. This bypasses any account password protection and enables easy access to your data.

The best approach to avoid this is to encrypt your laptop’s hard disk. Encrypted disks may only be accessible when the encryption key, in the form of a PIN or password or by inserting the USB holding the key, has been given.

Add a privacy screen

Shoulder surfing assaults occur more often than you may expect. Humans are inherently inquisitive, and they will automatically look at your device whether you are in a coffee shop, the library, or on an aircraft.

Add a privacy screen restricting viewing angles to protect your privacy and avoid shoulder surfing assaults.

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Use secure email

Check that any email software you use, such as a webmail system or cloud-based email service, is set to employ a secure sockets layer (SSL) or transport layer security (TSL).

This protects your login, password, and email as they travel online.

Check for known vulnerabilities:

When you connect your laptop to the internet while traveling, you may not be secured by a security system, allowing hackers to infect your privacy.

To lessen the odds of this happening, make sure your computer’s operating system and other applications are up to date with the latest security updates.

Set up location finding

Enabling the location locating function might be helpful if you misplace your laptop. Because these services may monitor you, remotely discovering your laptop creates a little privacy concern.

Add a webcam cover

RAT (Remote Administration Tool) is one of the most dangerous privacy threats since it uses your camera to spy on you, and hackers have discovered a method to activate it.

The only way to avoid this is to install a real cover on the camera that can be removed as needed.

Manual locks and safes

These provide security directly at the device, which might be advantageous when you want simple control. However, there is no centralized administration or monitoring, so these approaches are inefficient and sometimes hazardous.

They are often only feasible in lesser security situations, so you may get them when there is a reduced security hazard.

Conclusion

Laptop security is critical for keeping your data safe and preventing unwanted access to your laptop. Following these guidelines may limit the likelihood of security failures and ensure that your laptop is safe and secure.

Use strong passwords, enable two-factor authentication, install antivirus software, keep your software up to date, exercise caution while using public Wi-Fi, back up your data, and physically secure your laptop.