Theft Prevention
We are not aware of any particular problem with laptop theft on campus. Still, laptops are attractive targets for thieves. Protecting a laptop from theft is not much different from protecting any other small valuables from theft. Exercising a bit of common sense should keep your laptop safely in your possession.
Precautions
- Laptop thefts are usually crimes of opportunity. Unless you are James Bond, your laptop is more likely to be stolen for the value of the hardware itself rather than the information contained in it. From a thief's point of view, any laptop will do -- and the easier to steal, the better. Just make it unattractive to thieves by presenting obstacles, like using a cable lock.
- Know that your laptop is secure when it is out of your sight. When you leave your dorm room, or get up to find a book in the library, or step out of class to get a drink of water, make sure that someone you trust is watching your laptop or that it is secured.
- Cable locks are a good deterrent. A cable lock is a metal cable that affixes a laptop to hard-to-move objects. To take a laptop that is attached to a piece of furniture, a thief either has to take the laptop and drag the furniture behind, or cut the cable with a heavy duty tool. Neither option is particularly stealthy, so a thief on the prowl will likely just move on to an easier target.
How a Cable Lock Works
A cable lock attaches a laptop to a piece of furniture via a metal cable with a loop on one end and a lock on the other. You just loop the looped end through a hole in a piece of furniture, or around a table leg support, a pipe, etc. The other end locks into the laptop. Nearly all laptops have a small oval slot, sometimes called a "Kensington Lock slot," into which specially made computer locks fit. They are locked by means of either a key (as pictured) or a combination lock.
