I got an email this morning from a co-worker that one of her office neighbor’s had his laptop stolen out of his office. It happened around 6pm, apparently in the vicinity of other people working in their offices. Not long after that, another co-worker walked into my office and asked where her laptop was, thinking I had borrowed it. I had the unpleasant task of informing her that there was a laptop bandit on the prowl. Strangely, for the first time in many weeks, I had left my laptop in the office, sprawled on my desk for anyone to grab. Thankfully, no one did.
So, what to do? Our office security detail periodically posts best practices that include advising you to lock up your laptop if you are not taking it home, not leave money on your desk, put your purses and wallets away, etc. I don’t always pay attention to these, but I am going to now. There are a couple of people here who always walk around with their purses. I chalked that up to remnant of 9/11 where people didn’t have their personal effects to leave buildings with, and that hardly seemed like the most prominent concern, all things considered. Now, I’m looking at them with new-found respect – they’re taking security seriously! Maybe we need corporate issued belt bags for our wallets and cell phones. We’ll end up looking like Batman, but hopefully keep our wits about us.
