Malykhina, E. Laptop Lockdown. Wall Street & Technology. New York: Jun 2007. Vol. 25, Iss. 6; pg. 44.

The article that I chose has to do with securing information systems which was discussed in Chapter 8 of the textbook. Specifically, the article talks about laptop security which I feel is a growing issue as more sensitive information is being stored on company laptops. I mention in my e-portfolio my own personal story with laptop theft and there are many more that have been discussed in class and in the news recently. This article provides some options for securing laptops and preventing the precious information they often contain from falling into the wrong hands.

The first security measure discussed is Biometrics which is is a device such as a fingerprint reader that requires a specific biometric tag like a fingerprint to be used to log onto the laptop. There are laptops by Lenovo that include the fingerprint reader and software to authenticate the user. It is cost effective because it replaces passwords which can cost $100 per employee to replace a year. Another option put out by Bioscrypt is a USB pluggable 3-inch, 3-D face recognition camera that can autheticate users. It requires the user to undergo a digital face measurement.

Another security option discussed are Smart Card readers. These are used at my work for the laptops. In order to access the company network from home laptop users need a Smart Card to plug into their laptop. Advanced Smart Cards also allow multiple passwords to be stored and also one-time use passwords. Another important option is BIOS security which provides authentication with a password before being able to start the operating system. This is important because someone can't get to the information if they can't access the operating system. Finally encyption hardware and software is also discussed with the warning that encrypting everything can get very expensive and is still risky as the encryption keys can be stolen. Clearly a balance is needed between security but still having access to important information when it is needed.