Prevention

It is, of course, unreasonable to claim that every instance of laptop theft could have been avoided, but if more information was available to explain to educators exactly how to secure their IT equipment against theft and dispel some of the misconceptions around the problem, laptop theft could be mitigated.

ICT theft is both costly and dangerous, but there are ways that educators can reduce the risk of it occurring at their institutions:

 

1.  If it does not already, an institution’s existing security procedures should be altered to include guidelines for how ICT should be physically protected. This ‘rule book’ should cover both how equipment is used and stored within the building, and the directions staff and students should follow if they need to take laptops home with them.
2. Once the guide has been written, training should be organised to ensure that staff understand exactly what they need to do to keep their ICT safe. Educators can then pass on the relevant information to their classes. Training should be given at least annually, and the ICT security guide should be regularly reviewed to take account of any new equipment that has been purchased.
3. Staff should take care to avoid accidentally advertising ICT assets to thieves by refraining from discussing electronic devices on the school website, social networking sites or informing the local press when a lot of new equipment has been purchased.
4. When new equipment is bought, its packaging should be flattened, turned inside out and crushed before it is put outside with the rubbish, to avoid notifying potential thieves to a delivery.
5. When students are working in open-plan areas, security cables and systems that lock laptops to desks can help prevent passersby from taking valuable equipment when students may not be looking. This is especially important for schools located in high crime areas, or that have frequent visitors. It is also sensible to lock down desktop computers and projectors because, although these are more difficult to move, a committed thief will certainly have a go.
6. Encryption software should always be installed onto mobile ICT devices. Encryption can protect students by scrambling data to make it difficult for unauthorised personnel to determine its meaning, often rendering it useless to thieves.
7. Although encryption is vital to protect data, it should not be relied upon alone. Some thieves will not stop at anything, not least encryptions, to access important information, and those that steal laptops with sensitive information often do so because the data that they contain far exceeds their resell value.
8. Simply locking laptops in storage rooms will not keep them safe. Laptops and tablets are best protected in a secured, lockable cabinet that can be bolted to the wall or floor. This cabinet should be constructed of reinforced steel, not wood or plastic, and be designed to resist crowbars, cutting equipment and lock-pickers. Mobile storage and charging trolleys and laptop lockers provide effective overnight storage for laptops, tablets and netbooks, and it is a good idea to select one with a motion sensor alarm to further deter thieves.
9. To state the obvious, alarms are only useful if staff remember to set them. Make sure that the last person to leave the building double checks that an alarm has been engaged.
10. External ICT technicians should be made to present ID before they are taken to service computers, and staff should ensure that these people sign in and out.
11. Ensure that visitors are accompanied when they walk around the building and insist that all guests sign in and out.
12. When travelling with laptops on public transport, staff should avoid storing their laptops in luggage compartments, where devices could be taken by other passengers. Instead, laptops should be kept on laps on between feet.
13. Ideally, laptops and other mobile devices should never be left unattended in a vehicle because concealed areas like the boot or glove box will be the first places that thieves look. Laptops should always be accompanied by their owners and should never be left in a car overnight. It is far better to secure a laptop to furniture inside a building using a security cable.
14. Although it is upsetting, schools need to be realistic and accept that, if a pupil removes a laptop from the classroom, either to take home, or work on in another building, they may not necessarily bring it back. If educators or administrators are responsible for issuing laptops, teachers could reduce this problem by using a deposit system to ensure that equipment is returned, or use a register to tick off students’ names when laptops are put back into the storage cabinet. 
15.  If students need to issue themselves with laptops, schools could invest in a charging locker that pupils can access via their existing smartcards – the ones that they use for the library or to buy lunch. These cards link to a school’s database, enabling teachers to monitor which laptop has been taken from the cabinet, identify its whereabouts if stolen and spot which student may have damaged a laptop.
16. When out and about, teachers should carry their laptops in anonymous bags or cases in order not to alert thieves to its contents.
17. Laptop theft should be reported to the police as soon as possible; the quicker the police are aware that confidential information has gone missing, the more likely it is that equipment will be recovered and that educators will not have to seek a replacement.

 In following the above guidelines, educators can take easy steps towards preventing ICT security breaches within their schools and protect their pupils and budgets.