Cubicle Security For Laptops, Electronics? 532
kamikasee writes "I recently found out that I'm going to be moved from an office to a cubicle. The cubicle area is not very secure, and I'm worried about things wandering off. My boss has offered to buy some equipment to help me secure things, but so far I haven't found anything that fits my requirements. Google and Amazon searches are overwhelmed by lockable key cabinets and larger pieces of furniture. Here are some of the requirements: The main issue with traditional solutions (e.g. locking things in a drawer) is convenience. I use a laptop with a second LCD monitor. There's also an external keyboard and mouse and a USB hard drive. I leave my laptop on at night so I can remote-desktop into it, so I'm not really happy about putting it in a drawer (no ventilation), plus I don't like the idea of having to 'unharness' everything every time I want to put it away. I don't trust cable locks. Besides, cable locks won't help me secure my the USB drive and other electronics that might wander off. The solution I imagine is a lockable, ventilated metal box that would sit under the monitor and house most of the electronics. If it was big enough, I could stick my laptop into it at night (while leaving it running) and feel confident that it would still be there in the morning. I'd be open to other types of solutions. Surely someone else must have dealt with this problem."
webcam (Score:3, Interesting)
Then you can catch the thieves & get your stuff back.
Where the hell do you work??? (Score:4, Interesting)
The most I've done security-wise is to avoid leaving some of the more likely theft targets out in the open, but I've never worried about actually locking them away.
In the companies that I have worked for, if things disappear off of desks, someone (co-workers, cleaning staff, whatever) is going to be fired for it.
Security (Score:2, Interesting)
However, assuming you don't go cable lock + locked drawer:
The convenience of just sticking stuff in a big metal box is appealing; have you considered building one yourself? It doesn't seem too difficult if you can find access to the tools.
Re:Don't Have stealable stuff (Score:5, Interesting)
If you are bringing personal items (USB drive, iPod, cellphone, etc.) to work with you there are a few options:
- Leave this stuff at home
- Don't let it out of your sight and take it with you when you leave for lunch (this is what I do with my iPod/cellphone/etc. when working, although I can leave it out on my desk in plain sight and it will still be there later because my coworkers are not douchebags)
- Keep these items in a plain unassuming backpack under your desk
- Lock these items in a desk drawer when you are in the office and don't leave them at work
Also, why do you have a laptop if you're just going to leave it in the office when you go home? I've worked at places where that was grounds for dismissal. Don't they have a VPN where you work?Re:I didn't bother to count how many words... (Score:1, Interesting)
Why are you moving to a cube? (Score:2, Interesting)
Any company that respects it workers won't put them in cubes. Humans at times need privacy during their work day and that means an office that one can close for quite, and closed blinds for that extra special private moment.
Really though, why did they take away your office? Is it a message that it's time to leave? Was the glass ceiling exceeded, temporarily, on your part? What's up with that?
If your work requires you to have many gadgets then make the case that you require an office for corporate security reasons. Gotta keep those trade secrets secret.
The front door looks good. Find a company that will give you the resources that you need to make both of you wealthy. If you're not wealthy within two years at a company, get out.
Re:My workplace is so honest... (Score:3, Interesting)
LapTop Locker (Score:2, Interesting)
Disclaimer: I work for the company that designed this company's website, but I thought it seemed like a useful product in this context.
[KS]
Re:Don't Have stealable stuff (Score:1, Interesting)
-scott (not anonymous, just don't care to make an account
Re:Never dealt with that sort of problem (Score:3, Interesting)
The first, that "nobody will steal anything because they're all professional" is a true statement until somebody breaches the trust that other employees obviously have. You could ignore the risk until something goes missing, but do you want to be the first one affected by theft? Think of it as a trade-off. You're trading off the benefit of leaving your wallet out in the open versus the risk of somebody taking it. If your wallet is taken you are likely to be mightily inconvenienced - not just the stolen cash, but you also have to cancel your credit cards. If your keys are taken you have to change your home locks. And so on. IMHO, the balance of the cost-benefit equation for a wallet falls firmly on the side of "the benefit is small but the inconvenience of a problem is large".
The second risk is that objects or data may be accessed and returned, and you'd never know it. Does that USB thumb drive contain sensitive information, information which all employees are not entitled to access? You wouldn't know if somebody took the drive, copied its contents and returned it. Or if they copied your credit card number (or even scanned your card's mag stripe). If you lose a wallet you can take positive steps to mitigate the inconvenience - steps which you cannot take if you don't know there's been a breach of trust.
I think the OP's best strategy is to minimise the amount of personal kit which needs to be used in the office and left overnight. If the company owns the laptop and monitors then retention of the physical device becomes the company's responsibility. I don't see why the USB thumb drive needs to be used overnight - don't computers have their own storage? :-)
serious no sarcasm answer (Score:4, Interesting)
2) cable lock for laptop and external monitor(they really are quite good)
3) pre boot authentication (integrated with finger pricnt reader)
4) full disk encryption - Utimaco Safeguard Easy (integrated with finger pricnt reader)
5) data dot dna (tiny dots with serial numbers that can be stuck/hidden on your equipment)
6) Computrace (software that cannot easily be removed and so when your stolen machine connects to the internet it will send its location to the computrace who will work with the ISP local law enforment to retrieve the stolen machine)
7) SafeEnd End point security, individually controls/records usb, i/o, ethernet ports
8) insurance
i got all this with my thinkpad, not because my co-workers are theives but because my companies insurance premiums are high and i have sensitive customer data on my machine which is required by law to be encrypted.
Re:Never dealt with that sort of problem (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:serious no sarcasm answer (Score:4, Interesting)
It can lock the screen, play a sound file (I picked the extremely annoying high-pitched beep) when it is jiggled ever so slightly (adjustable sensitivity), take a pic of who/whatever's in front of it and ftp it to a server of your choosing and a few other options.
If you turn off the warning sound and set the sensitivity real high, anyone foolish enough to detach anything from your laptop will jiggle it enough to have his picture taken.
Kamikasee's not even a /. regular (Score:3, Interesting)
My On-Topic comments have all been covered by others, Get a Desktop, Webcams, Lockable cabinets, Leave your personal laptop at home, let the company handle it, etc.
Makes me wonder if he just got kicked from one of the other sites... Or that his (personal) laptop is behind a work firewall blocking slashdot... Or that he was an arrogant jerk in the office that's about to get his comeuppance in the cube farm...
Re:Don't Have stealable stuff (Score:3, Interesting)
If my boss was moving me from an office into a cubicle, I'd be looking for another job. That's just insulting.
It depends. Awhile back, a company I worked for moved locations, and everyone was given a cubicle except senior VPs and the president. It was called an "open office environment". I suppose it was still insulting, but it was not personal...
Re:$30 webcam (Score:3, Interesting)
Nice in theory, too bad it won't necessarily work out that way.
True story:
Where I work (with offices), a female manager noticed when she'd come in in the morning that items on her desk were misplaced, the computer was on when she'd turned it off and did exactly what you suggested, bought a webcam and left it running.
Seems a member of the cleaning crew was accessing both her office and her computer, going to NSFW sites and having "personal moments" in her chair, on a regular basis.
Confronted, his supervisor notified, it looked like the spunk monkey was on his way out on a rail. Then Legal got involved.
The long and short of it, since he was not notified that he was on camera there was fear he'd find a good piranha to file an "invasion of privacy" suit and our outfit didn't want the negative publicity, he was not fired. Additionally, the manager was told she must pull the camera, even though everyone now knew it was there.
He kept his job, she bought hand sanitizer by the gallon, and tried not to think about what might have gone on in her chair in the dark of the night.
True story, swear to god.
Re:No kidding! (Score:5, Interesting)
I work at a very large medical school in the Bronx with real professionals and trust everyone who gets a badge. Thus it was strange when a rash of laptop thefts hit the complex that I work in. Each disappearance happened in broad daylight, oftentimes when a researcher had just stepped out to smoke a cigarette, go to the bathroom etc.
You would be amazed at how quickly a person's progressive attitude is changed when their laptop is stolen. The European researchers blamed the Chinese, the Chinese blamed the South Americans and the Americans (myself included) .... blamed other Americans. In either case, morale in the entire place was shot. People were seen bringing their laptops into the bathroom (for non-masturbatory purposes!). No one trusted anyone else.
After almost a hundred thefts security stopped a guy in a Fed-Ex uniform with a bag full of laptops. He got past the checkpoint by claiming that his packages had to be signed in person by the noted party (warning bells? We have a loading dock and people to do that.). When the cops came, he confessed only to stealing the laptops in his bag and claimed that it was his first time. The laptop thefts stopped for a few weeks.... and then started back up!
In the end it turned out to be one of the security guards. No one would have caught him if he hadn't been storing hot laptops IN HIS LOCKER. So the moral of the story is that if someone wants to steal your unattended laptop, they will.
Re:No kidding! (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Don't Have stealable stuff (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:I didn't bother to count how many words... (Score:4, Interesting)
My daughter got one of these toy safes with a "laser" security system. You have to teach it a passcode, and it won't open without it. But if you disrupt the little beams across its door, it starts an annoying klaxon and light-show that lasts a long 30 seconds. I cringed at her must-be-secure attitude, locking up her little valuables, especially since she's an ONLY CHILD. I tripped it "accidentally" a couple times just so she would feel like it was doing its job.
However, I'm quite happy with how it backfired. Very valuable security lessons! It has taught her that security is inversely proportional to convenience, that the more complicated a mechanism is the more likely it will fail, that honestly accidental infractions can't be prosecuted like infractions with intent, and when a security system fails she can't access her own stuff. It eats batteries like crazy. It acts stupid when the batteries are low, so she has to recode it every week or two. Also, it blinks red at weird intervals all night to remind her that either she can't trust people around her, or she is being unnecessarily paranoid. I think the safe is now without batteries and empty.
Re:Never dealt with that sort of problem (Score:3, Interesting)
Place a few cameras around (even a few fake ones!), connect them to a video hub/DVR. To make employees happy and help them feel reassured that no one is contstantly watching the footage to see who is and who is not working efficiently or whatever, you place the kit inside a closet and place 2 or 3 differnt locks on it and give 1 of those keys to the HR rep or IT guy, one to an upper level VP, and one to a representative of an employee formed comittee. Now for someone to see who swiped a stolen item, these 3 people neet to come together to unlock the door... now no one is poking around the survailence system.... Another good option is giving the key to the closet to IT, but the password to the DVR to an employee relations comittee member. Since the DVRs are member or workgroup devices, not domain systems, IT won't be able to change the password and management can't log on to the system at all (since it's for theft protection, the only occasion they should have to log on is when a theft happens, and employee relations should be involved.
If that's still not good enough for your employees, only put cameras in hallways and near enterances, so they're not under full time survaillence, but if someone swipes something, we should have a good idea of who was in the neighborhood at the time it went missing.
Anything large being stolen will be obvious (monitors, printers, etc). That stuff doesn't belong to you anyway, it belongs to the company, and if you're backing up your data, what do you care?
If you ARE using your own equipment in the office building for work purposes, get HR or your finance department to assure you it's covered under a company insurance policy and then if it walks off, it's still their problem, and you get free replacement kit. For everything else, check with your homeowners or renters insurance policy. You can usually get a rider for a couple bucks a month that covers personal device loss and damage without a deductable. (you do have to file a police report to get a claim, but lets face it, sometimes people see police at your cubicle, and devices mysteriously re-appear...)
I've also been in buildings where security asset tags every item coming in the building (even things like picture frames!). Going in or out of the building becomes a slight pain since you need to go through metal detectors, and security checks, but for some businesses, especially those dealing with large numbers of traveling employees or lots of short term contract labor, it's worth it.
On another note, if you don't trust your fellow employees, seek employment elsewhere or don't bring shiny things to the office...
Re:Never dealt with that sort of problem (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Never dealt with that sort of problem (Score:3, Interesting)
The only problem I had with thieves was a company I contracted for (wine and alcohol distrib). I left a 6-pack of Diet coke in the fridge the first day and it was gone the next. My manager apologized, saying she forgot to tell me not to leave anything in there because the night shift raided the refrigerator. Had I been working their longer than a few days, it would have been time to break out the old brownie with the chocolate ex-lax recipe. What really got me was no one in management seemed to care that if their night shift would steal from other employees, how much hooch and other things were walking out of there?
Ironically, their slogan at that time was "McK_____ People Care!"
Re:No kidding! (Score:4, Interesting)
I just think it's somewhat shocking that over 90% of our cleaning and cafeteria crews are Hispanic, and over 90% of our security guards are African American. That in and of itself seems like some sort of unnatural self-selection.
Re:No kidding! (Score:3, Interesting)
WTF am I talking about? Maybe any person, no matter their origin, color, race, sex, or religion can succeed in this world simply by setting high goals, living in a world of self discipline and motivation, education and the pursuit of excellence. Given what everybody is saying about Generation Y, a kid growing up today just has to set their bar a little bit higher and BAM! they are head and shoulders above their peers, and then they grow more and more successful.
Black teens - want to be an overwhelming success in life, long term? Here's your recipe :
1. Stay in school. Do your homework. Study. Four hours every night. Even Saturday and Sunday. Four full hours. Graduate with good grades, maybe with honors.
2. Join the military right out of high school, do a four year stint. Get the GI Bill. Get discipline, respect, motivation.
3. Take that money, discipline, motivation and self respect down to a state university. Get a degree in something you can use to get a job in once you graduate.
4. Graduate college at age 26. With honors.
5. Get a real job right out of college. Spend less than you make. Invest 10% in long term growth (ie. 401(k), etc.) Do not buy bling or rims for your car.
6. Don't get pregnant / get any strange women pregnant in the process. Unless you marry her, and plan on staying married to her for 20+ years.
7. Don't break any laws. Not even the drug laws. Stay relatively sober, except when the occasion warrants otherwise.
8. Learn about credit. Get / keep a good credit rating. Don't do things that will damage your credit rating.
9. Do good at work, applying your education, discipline, respect, and motivation. Get recognized for excellent work. Get promoted.
Do this and the cycle is broken. You are a success. Maybe not Chairman of the FCC or President of the United States, but still