Ask Slashdot: How To Secure My Life-In-A-Briefcase? 241
An anonymous reader writes "I used to travel with a book and some clothes in a backpack, and now my entire life fits into my briefcase. I have a laptop, a tablet, and a cell phone with access to all of my documents through Dropbox, and all the books I own are on my kindle. Aside from having about four grand in electronics, the bag has everything of value that I own. If that bag is stolen while I'm traveling, it will be more trouble than if my apartment burns down (while I'm not in it). What can I do to secure my life-in-a-briefcase?"
helpful suggestion (Score:4, Funny)
Change your briefcase from 12345...
Re:helpful suggestion (Score:5, Funny)
Four thousand dollars, you say?
Remind me again, where do you live and what time do you leave each morning?
Re:helpful suggestion (Score:5, Funny)
Re:helpful suggestion (Score:5, Informative)
Parking lots after hours are a choice with no witnesses.
If he stops at a store on a regular basis on the way home, that works too. A smash and grab takes seconds, while a trip into any store takes minutes. No one cares about car alarms, you can trigger it and walk away, and no one will notice, as long as you aren't wearing a ski mask and looking totally suspicious. I doubt he carries his gear into every store he goes to.
Most people's driveways feel safe, but are anything but. In most communities, people are inside, and wouldn't hear a thing. If there is security, their job is to observe, not confront. At best, they'll patrol a specific segment of the community every hour. At worst, once a night.
His home itself if fair game. A bump key or lockpick gun will get you through virtually any residential doors with minimal hassle. 3am when everyone is sound asleep is the riskiest time. The door can even be locked on the way out to add to the confusion.
For 4 grand cash (assuming it can all be converted to cash quickly), a stolen car and a staged traffic accident will stop the vehicle and get him out of the car with his doors unlocked.
You aren't truly safe anywhere. You feel safe. A determined attacker will exploit any time he can.
The best thing to do is, don't say you're carrying thousands of dollars of gear around. Don't look like you're worth attacking. I frequently travel in jeans and a t-shirt, carrying a ratty backpack. Sometimes it'll have some books. Sometimes it'll have electronics. Sometimes I have enough firepower to pick a fight with a street gang (when going to the shooting range).
I never look like I have anything worth stealing. When I am dressed to impress, with the necessary accessories, I'm traveling directly from point A to point B, where both locations are relatively secure.
Re:helpful suggestion (Score:5, Interesting)
Four thousand dollars, you say?
Many who purchase modern digital technology seem to be oblivious to the fact that it is not any kind of nostalgic keepsake, that almost without exception, it never appreciates in market value, and always depreciates quite rapidly (abiding by some corollary of Moore's Law). If there was $4,000 in cash, solid gold, or any precious metal, or even cocaine, it would be a different story. But the sad fact remains if the stuff in that briefcase is close to two years old (*and nothing in it was made by Apple, which for inscrutable reasons always retains a high resale value), then regardless of what you spent on it, its only worth, at best, half that, and is also replaceable with new for about half of what was spent (for the same level of technology). And the data? Unless one works for a secretive government agency, or Apple, then the data has no resale market value.
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Who would pay $300 for a 5 year old phone with a non-replaceable battery that will probably last 2 hours on standby?!?
as I already suggested
the inspiration of this gem [youtube.com]
But seriously, the battery is not that hard to replace with a newer one that is much better than the OEM Apple battery, and, again, as I suggested, someone that wants EDGE, or an easy unlock (an international traveller with multiple SIMs perhaps? idk really), in a country where Apple doesn't sell anything.
Don't do this! (Score:5, Funny)
Whatever you do don't handcuff your briefcase to your hand. At least not if you value your hand :)
Re:Don't do this! (Score:5, Insightful)
Perhaps the handcuff is extreme, but don't leave it or its contents unattended. Use one hand at the urinal (if applicable), saving the other to hold the briefcase. Use stalls with walls on two or more adjacent sides, keep briefcase on side of toilet with wall. Don't leave it on the convenient little shelf by the door in the bathroom (think I've seen a lot of dumb stuff in the bathroom?) Don't leave the stuff on the table as you walk across a huge room get more food/coffee.
Also, insurance for hardware, encryption for data. IOS has full disk encryption and Android might; truecrypt is cheap and easy to use and each major OS has its own native encryption solution.
Re:Don't do this! (Score:4)
My least favourite situation is when I've put my computer through the x-ray machine and then the line into the microwave gets tied up and I'm peering over security trying to make sure that no-one walks out with my precious....
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Agreed. While most people probably wouldn't think about stealing something with three dozen guards around, this is a huge personal security loophole.
Every time I travel I see the opportunity to steal someone's stuff. If someone is "detained" for a second scan, their stuff is always left availble.
I've even had security guards attempt to hand me laptop bags asking, "Is this yours?" It belonged to someone who was still on the other side of the body scan.
Add that your personal items (keys and wallet, mostly) a
Re:Don't do this! (Score:4, Insightful)
Actually, there have been many reports of someone "accidentally" walking off with someone elses stuff. Laptops are easy. Pick it up, slip it in your bag, and keep moving. A quick Google search [google.com] shows all kinds of numbers being thrown around. It's more than 1, less than 1 million.
When I refuse to go through the "microwave" (as the GP said), they pull me aside for the patdown. I keep an eye on my stuff until they're finally ready for me. I've had to ask security on multiple instances to secure *my* property, so no one else "accidentally" takes it. On very rare occasions did they guess what all of my property was.
I think it's nuts. They pretend it's a high security environment, where anyone (and everyone) might be a terrorist. Yet, they go with the honor system for collecting your property from the x-ray conveyor belt, and at baggage claim. I've only been through a few airports (Las Vegas, and a few international destinations) that check the baggage claim ticket to the baggage you're taking. I don't even know if they do it as policy, or because someone was bored and wanted to harass travelers.
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Don't even get me started on baggage claim...
Re:Don't do this! (Score:5, Informative)
Don't put your bag on the belt until the previous person has cleared the detector.
There are actually teams of two that work this way:
Bad#1 Walks through detector
You put your stuff on the belt
Bad#2 Gets delayed at the detector (Ooops! I forgot those keys)
Bad#1 Picks up your stuff
Bad#2 is visually distracting you, goes though the detector again, gets delayed, or finally clears
Your stuff is long gone, as is Bad#1
Re:Don't do this! (Score:5, Funny)
Duh. You hire three ninjas and give each of them a briefcase. Only one is the real briefcase. The others are full of ninja-style weapons.
only if you hire ninja.... (Score:2)
...you will never see them again....even if they parade through your city!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtR2m20C2YM [youtube.com]
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Whatever you do don't handcuff your briefcase to your hand. At least not if you value your hand :)
In other words - the best investment in protecting yourself (and your stuff) is ... SELF DEFENCE. Not guns, not locks, not pepper spray ... but self defence of some sort. Not the "tournament style" martial arts that are so common, but a common-sense approach that emphasizes avoidance, while preparing you to respond physically if required. My recommendation? Take a look at Krav Maga [youtube.com].
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Don't do stupid things, at stupid times, in stupid places, with stupid people.
So basically you are saying;
-"Get off slashdot!" ???
Prey (Score:2)
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Prey isn't very useful if the device doesn't have true GPS built in, so scratch it for a laptop and some tablets. Cell phones indoors to some degree as well. "Good news, we've narrowed down your stolen phone. It's somewhere indoors in a 1000 meter radius of cell tower XYZ"
Plus, how intelligent is your average thief? If I was going to steal a laptop/tablet/cell phone, the very first thing I'm going to do is turn it off and/or remove the battery, rendering Prey and the like useless. The 2nd thing I'm goin
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"how intelligent is your average thief?" and "[...] I'm going to do is wipe/reformat [...]"
Am I the only one who find this ironic? :p
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"Prey isn't very useful if the device doesn't have true GPS built in, so scratch it for a laptop and some tablets."
Location services are FAR better than that these days. My own router is located on the map within a few yards of its actual location, and that's using WiFi only. Cell towers are less useful of course, but your laptop would probably be pinpointed within 10s of yards at most.
If I was going to steal a laptop/tablet/cell phone, the very first thing I'm going to do is turn it off and/or remove the battery, rendering Prey and the like useless.
Only for as long as it's turned off. As soon as it's rebooted, Prey is back on the job, sending pictures of the user (taken with the webcam) and screenshots. I've tested it on my own laptop, and it works very well.
And as another respon
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And as another responder replied, if the criminal is not too smart they aren't going to be wiping the hard drive. But even more than that: they're usually too lazy, or in too much of a hurry. They want a working phone or computer they can use or sell
Emphasis mine.
Anecdotally, our university will watch for MAC addresses of stolen computer equipment. According to one of the network guys, they've never had a hit. The equipment is sold on ebay before it is ever turned on on campus.
What blows my mind is that no one ever buys it and then takes it to campus.
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"Anecdotally, our university will watch for MAC addresses of stolen computer equipment. According to one of the network guys, they've never had a hit. The equipment is sold on ebay before it is ever turned on on campus."
Which is precisely why something like Prey is useful. It will track the computer wherever it is.
"What blows my mind is that no one ever buys it and then takes it to campus."
Most thieves of this kind are not professionals or college students. They are usually drug addicts or people with similar problems, looking for a quick buck.
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On a Mac with a firmware password, it'll be a fairly useless thing to do, though... If you reformat, AFAIK it won't boot anymore (is that right?), and before reformatting, it won't boot from any other media but the hard drive (I'm sure of that). Plenty of thieves are silly enough to use the conveniently enabled guest account. That's plenty enough for undercover [orbicule.com] to check in, with their picture, too.
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Protip: in modern systems (legacy PC ain't one), the battery is for the realtime clock, and that's that. EEPROM, what a wonderful invention it is. Lets you store data without a power source. Whoa! And with that EEPROM wiped, your system will refuse to boot. So, there you go.
what is the problem you want to secure against? (Score:5, Insightful)
What is the problem you want to secure yourself against? The loss of 4k$? The loss of your data? The theft of your data?
The 4k$ cannot be secured other than through old fashioned don't let them steal it and/or (travel) insurance
The loss of your data is secured by diligent backing up, but if you rely on 'cloud' services that should be fine (I am sure that Amazon has some way of redownloading your books if your kindle is lost, no? DropBox certainly works as a backup plan). Make sure that the required configuration / passwords etc are somewhere.
The theft of your data is also not so difficult. DropBox copies the files locally, but if you just encrypt the whole drive that is works on you should be fine. If your device (tablet/cell phone) doesn't support that, and you fear theft, don't use dropbox on it or get a better device.
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In some cases, the most dangerous aspect of having one's computer stolen is that it's often configured to grant access to important systems. What if an attacker deletes your cloud storage, changes your email password or creates a backdoor account to your VPN? In other words, the physical theft enables identity theft. How dangerous is that going to be?
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He can always get a laptop with a smartcard reader and use it as a key to encrypt his files. Then just take the smartcard with him everywhere.
Re:what is the problem you want to secure against? (Score:5, Interesting)
I had my car broken into once and a bag containing my laptop was stolen.
I called the cops, told them the make/model/serial numbers of all the various stuff in the bag (including the laptop), they gave me a police report, and I called my insurance. I got a new laptop and my car window repaired.
I wasn't worried the slightest bit about the contents of the computer as I used TrueCrypt with a secure password to encrypt the entire disk and all the data was backed up to a separate computer at home and a remote backup service. Once I got the new computer it only took about an hour and a half to restore everything.
If you have valuable information on a computer you should be using whole-disk encryption.
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The cloud storage is not void of backups. they don't really delete your info so you'd be able to easily restore it via their APIs or by informing the company of your situation and providing proof of identity.
The email situation would also be handled via contact to the company.
Insurance, Backups, Encryption (Score:5, Insightful)
Get a rider on your home insurance policy that covers replacement of the hardware.
Automate regular backups to the Internet to protect your software.
Encrypt your data to protect your passwords, identity and privacy.
Am I missing anything?
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Given his entire life is 4k worth of hardware, it isn't clear to me that he does or can afford insurance. But he really didn't make either his short or long term budget for this clear, which makes it hard to make any recommendation.
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There's a new trend of well-off people being proud in having very little stuff and essentially renting what they need (hotels, restaurants, etc).
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Am I missing anything?
A dry run! Any kind of backup or redundancy can prove to be pretty much useless if you never test it.
The main thing I worry about is being out exploring somewhere and my phone dies leaving me without GPS. Sure, I could wait until nightfall and navigate by the stars, but what if it's raining?
After a few dry runs of worst case scenarios like that, it should be pretty obvious what kind of information you want to replicate elsewhere (on a laptop, on a phone, in a cloud service, printed out / tattooed on your
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Clothes. Get a change of clothes. I know you want to look cool with your gadgets in that briefcase, but you're not going to impress anyone if you've been wearing the same clothes for the past two to three weeks. It also goes without saying that you should put a toothbrush in there, with toothpaste, soap, shampoo, etc (in those little TSA-approved bottles of course).
And please, do not take your gadgets abroad unless you really have to. Just assume that they're going to get broken, stolen, and/or scanned by b
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Maybe that he doesn't have a 'home'.
Then there's renters' insurance, you know.
Options (Score:2)
Cheap laptop for travelling, good desktops at home and work, all synced via Dropbox, office desktop with Citrix. Also, spare laptop kept at the office and booted periodically to get updates.
What's the tablet? Is its data synced?
Kindle - can't help there.
Re: (Score:2)
Doesn't Dropbox store unencrypted?
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The transfer to and from Dropbox is encrypted, and files are encrypted using a key that Dropbox controls and written to storage (Amazon S3, IIRC).
The purpose of the encryption isn't so much to protect your files from Dropbox but rather to protect it from Amazon S3 and badguys who might go dumpster diving or try stealing disks. (I imagine S3 destroys their disks when they're replaced, but one's never sure.)
Naturally, one should encrypt sensitive files before storing them on Dropbox. One needs to evaluate one
This isn't so hard, is it? (Score:3)
1) Back up your stuff. To the cloud, if you expect to write a lot on your travels and/or expect to be able to replace and reprovision stolen devices.
2) Keep details of your account credentials somewhere separate, where you can get to them easily via the web. Properly secured, of course. Use an online password vault or encrypted cloud data store that lets you access files via the web. Also store details of the devices and SIM cards themselves, as well as URLs or phone numbers of the services used to remote wipe/block those devices (if applicable). If your stuff is stolen, you'll want to be able to take quick action and have everything blocked.
3) Properly secure the devices themselves, of course. Use screen locks / pin codes, and set any password vault software so that you have to key in the pass-phrase every time you use it (or per session).
4) If you travel, it helps if you have a credit card with a high enough limit to replace your devices, if you need replacements right away.
5) Check with your cell provider if you can get a separate (spare) SIM, or how you would go about getting a stolen SIM replaced and delivered to your address away from home. Do this before you travel.
$4,000???? (Score:2, Interesting)
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Now my idea of a high tech nomad *cough*hipster bum*cough* might be somewhat stereotypical but a macbook pro and an ipad will account for 80% of that $4000.
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"what the heck kind of high-powered applications are you running that require that kind of expensive hardware?"
My Macbook Pro, which I use routinely for work, was about $3000 new. Toss in a good tablet and smartphone, and you can top $4000 very easily.
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"sure, and I can put $10,000 worth of gear in a backpack. but when I travel I don't, cheap, durable, low performance is good enough."
Apparently this person travels a lot and doesn't want to (or has reason not to) leave his hardware at home. I chose not to second-guess his motives.
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Oh yeah, I still like to do some gaming so I have an expensive laptop for that.
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I'm a little on the paranoid side. I don't enter passwords into systems I don't trust. I might not travel to stare at a screen, but that doesn't mean that I don't want to check my e-mail while I'm not at home.
Backup (Score:2)
Seriously, if it's that important, encrypt it and back it up in a dozen places.
A dead man's switch, obviously... (Score:5, Insightful)
(In all seriousness, though, there really isn't too much that one can do to protect small luggage. There are a few mostly-obvious behavioral tips, don't put it down behind your chair where you can't see it, don't leave it in the cab, try to avoid using bags that have giant steal-me logos advertising the electronics within, etc. but that is about it. Your main focus should be on two things:
1. If the bag falls into the possession of somebody else, have you taken measure to ensure that they can't get data access? Hardware can be insured, and really isn't all that expensive in the grand scheme; but if somebody has both your data and the oh-so-conveniently-stored-locally credentials for your 'cloud backup' you have a problem... 2. Backups, do you have them? Bags get lost, bags get stolen, bags get crunched by luggage handlers. If you can't restore yourself to what you had in the bag if I were to hand you equivalent-or-newer models of the laptop, tablet, and phone and internet access, you aren't prepared. If you can, then you are.)
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An entirely legal alternative version of this would be to have the deadman's switch flag the unit as stolen, notify a server regularly of its IP and geolocation (if it can), and redirect all internet requests to show a "Reward if found" screen. (Or, if you're feeling worse and don't want to actually get the computer back, you can filter all the images to be Goatse. Or kittens, I suppose.
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The world isn't overflowing with valorous do-gooders; but you might get lucky(especially if it quickly becomes clea
Pelican 1490 (Score:4, Informative)
I travel around the world, and this is the best case I have ever used. Well, my Pelican 1514 is a close second. :)
It is waterproof, you can drop it or impact it and you don't need to worry about it, and it just works.
You can also lock it, or lock it to something (in your apt when you are away). Don't lock it someplace at an airport and leave...
I envy you in that you can fit everything in one case, I am trying to get down to one small car load with about 5-6 cases.
Better to carry something worn and dirty? (Score:2)
When I travel, I try not to attract attention.
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Pelican cases often attract more attention than they should. Stuff inside may or may not be expensive, but from personal experience it is rarely marketable. We have one cases with over $50k of instruments, but good luck getting more than the value of a laptop on the street.
Generally speaking though, the right decals can protect a pelican box pretty well.
Easy solution (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Easy solution (Score:5, Informative)
Kind of hard to get through airport security with a .45 on your person. Just sayin'.
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Incorrect.
It's not allowed to FAIL TO DECLARE that you have firearms in your checked luggage.
http://www.tsa.gov/travelers/airtravel/assistant/editorial_1666.shtm [tsa.gov]
Failure to adhere to the following regulations will preclude passengers from traveling with firearms, ammunitions or firearm parts:
Travelers must declare all firearms to the airline during the ticket counter check-in process.
The firearm must be unloaded.
The firear
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Either you're aware of your surroundings or you're not.
If you are, then there are only a few situations where the briefcase could walk away, many of which the .45 wouldn't help with.
If you're not, then absolutely do not carry a deadly weapon.
crucial question (Score:2)
My list (I'm in a simular situation): (Score:4, Informative)
I'm follwing the cult of less myself, and while not all of my important stuff fits in a briefcase, it does fit into one room without it looking cramped or stuffed with junk - and I plan to reduce my stuff even more in the next few years.
Here's what I do: ... all my current work of the last year)
My Hardware: MB Air, Mac Mini, HTC Flyer, HTC Desire HD
My local storage: 2 HDDs for TimeMachine, 2 HDDs for redundant backup, storage and archiving
My remote storage: Virtual Debian Server for word stuff versioned and synced with Git via SSH (roughly ten projects currently
Disaster recovery via TimeMachine, Backup via two extra redundant external USB 3 2.5" HDDs, FS is HFS non-journaled for easy access from linux. Regular offsite versioning, archiving and backups via Git or SCP for the stuff I work on, Backup from Computers to HDDs via rsync. I rely on the Mac OS X AES 128bit encryption of the MB Air SDD for data security. My calendar is on Google and syncs with both HTC devices (anonymous/fake account) and iCal on the MB, my contact data is only in my phone. Still thinking about wether a fresh copy of 'Missing Sync' is worthwhile.
I store all my notes in Evernote. I have the Evernote client hooked to my Evernote account on all devices.
My next move will be an rsync setup with some low-power netbook/nettop PC running linux that pushed the contents of the HDDs to my server (rented virtual server running debian).
If my stuff gets stolen I've got my backups. If someone breaks into my room and steals the HDDs aswell I'm in deep shit - until I get my off-site routine running that is. I've been consolidating my data handling for about a year now and it will take another year or two until I've got it all in place, i.e.: Full and total off-site backup and desaster recovery preperation, fully redundant local backup, archiving and storage, zero-fuss cross-device automatic project syncing and fail-safe, secure contacts and calendering. ... I'm not to picky with encryption, the 128bit AES is enough for my taste. It's not that I work for the CIA or something.
Hope that helped.
Laptop AND Tablet, really? (Score:3, Interesting)
Kudos to Apple for creating a need that doesn't exist really but what are people doing nowadays carrying both a tablet and laptop?!
Now I somehow understand the "couch surfing" use for a tablet but really carrying a laptop and a tablet seems to be overkill (and still done by many people).
You can check something quickly on your phone (which is easier to access than the tablet and most likely it runs precisely the same OS) and for anything serious you still need the laptop. So, why the tablet?
And it's not some case of "why not if I can afford it". There's a big price to be paid in having an extra device apart from original cost and the extra weight: you need to take care of it, not to lose it, to recharge it, to install stuff on it, debug it if it doesn't work (even sending it back to manufacturer if it fails), etc.
If you are very young (or very poor) and a little bit geeky you probably welcome anything that works on electricity, from a 1GB USB stick to a nice used laptop. But there is a point where it's just too much and even if it's free it's just not worth it for the extra complexity.
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Phone: check something quickly.
Tablet: read ebooks comfortably.
Laptop: actual work.
You could use the laptop for all three, but the battery life will be getting in your way all the time.
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Go to the gym. I'm reading on my iPad in the sunshine right now.
The gym helps with the picking up chicks too, BTW.
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I travel with a Macbook Air, HP Laptop, a kindle, a blackberry and a ipod. All have their functions. I'd like to leave the HP behind, at 8lbs it's a pig, but I need a PC for work.
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I have a laptop for doing work and a tablet for entertainment (reading books, watching movies.) I used to read on my laptop, but I found that I get considerably better battery life out of the tablet. The tablet is also considerably lighter, so if I'm travelling, it's nice to have it with me while I'm walking around.
With a bluetooth keyboard, I could possibly start doing away with the laptop. There are too many times that I want to multitask, though--read a reference while doing actual work. Plus, the tab
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Ah, another "my needs are everyone's needs and they never change" Slashdotter.
I am currently sitting here with an iPad and a notebook. The iPad is out, being used because I'm eating on a patio and it's easier than hauling out the notebook. When I want to work, the notebook will come out, but the iPad will be a second screen, usually with a scientific paper or some technical docs on it.
But two screens? Who needs that, right?
PacSafe bag cages (Score:4, Informative)
Need to be more specific (Score:2)
When you say you're in deep shit, what do you mean?
If it's a matter of just losing the data, then all you need are backups and travel insurance to cover the cost of the gear. You'll be inconvenienced for that trip, but once you get home you can replace/restore. For example, IIRC, all your kindle purchases are recorded in your account, so you're a new kindle away from restoring everything.
If you are concerned that the data you carry could be used by others to destroy your life (eg: identity/credit theft),
Redundancy (Score:4, Insightful)
First thought, you need a redundant provider to dropbox. Get Amazon or another provider to also sync your data. You sound like a road warrior and having been a road warrior your data is your life. Second thought, how are you going to survive a complete loss of your briefcase on the road? What have you done to encrypt your data? What have you done to have your devices home phone so that you can try to have police recover them?
You can replace tools like a phone or laptop, what is your gameplan to do so? Do you have credit capacity to replace everything on the spot? Insurance is a pain and can take weeks in a best case scenario to send a check. How are you going to document tat you secured your belongings in your room? If you can't prove use of a cable or the like and a police report no insurance company will replace your belongings?
Where is your password vault? It should not be in your briefcase?
Whole-disk encryption (Score:2)
Anybody have any tips regarding using whole-disk (or home directory) encryption using Ubuntu?
What about re-installs of the OS (an unfortunate necessity)?
Do you have to continue using the same password in order to keep being able to decrypt the home directory?
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Huh, have you ever installed Ubuntu during the last years? It asks you if you want to encrypt (encfs) your home (and of course you can change the password later on, although it won't help you if an attacker had access to the machine in the meantime).
"Whole-disk" encryption is also available in the alternate installer (and it looks and probably is identical with the one that exists by default in the debian installer). However for some reason the recent versions of the "alternate" are a mess, at least in my e
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Yes, I have (8.04, 10.04, and now 12.04).
I hadn't used encryption up till now because I used it on a desktop.
I was having some trouble with a re-installation of 12.04, and I thought it might have something to do with the home encryption.
briefcase? (Score:2)
people still use briefcases?
Get a life. (Score:2)
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heh ya, thats only a laptop and half a phone with their applecare
on a side rant fuck applecare, its a great reason to not get apple products. A coworker spent nearly 3 grand on a laptop package with photoshop and applecare. It died 2 weeks after purchase, the geniuses took his machine for 2 weeks, while he was still attending the classes which prompted this purchase in the first place. When he got it back it was of course the same machine, which I stated laughing my ass off saying
"Dude they just took you fo
Pick your gear carefully (Score:4, Interesting)
I am highly mobile and also carry my laptop and tablet in my briefcase. However, I chose the sturdiest, most versatile briefcase [saddlebackleather.com] I could find. At 7.5lbs empty, it weighs nearly 20lbs with my gear in it and is not something a thief could easily run off with. The leather it's comprised of is 1/8" thick and has only 3 seams, and being leather, keeps the contents at a moderate temperature, which is excellent for electronics which may be heat sensitive.
My laptop, tablet and cell phone are all Apple products, which have the "FInd my Mac" feature allowing the devices to be located whenever they access a network. While not an anti-theft tool, the "Find my iPhone" and "Find my iPad" features have been shown to be quite useful in recovering lost and stolen iDevices. The "Find my Mac" feature is more questionable since most Macbook Pro users with even a hint of a clue will have their user accounts secured, meaning there is likely no way to associate the computer with your iCloud account even if a user logs in via the Guest Account. But if your briefcase is stolen with your iPad in it, the chances are pretty good that you can recover your iPad and briefcase. However, you'd be better off not placing your briefcase in a position where it could be stolen. If I were more paranoid, I would likely buy a GPS or RF transponder to stash in the deep recesses of my briefcase so that I could recover it regardless of net connectivity.
However, what happens if your briefcase is stolen with your laptop and tablet in it and they can not be recovered? Fortunately, iCloud helps alleviate this -- but only for app data and iTMS purchases. For my Document data and Software projects, I use an AWS Micro instance with Gitolite, which aside from allowing me to share and stage my development projects with other developers, it allows me to sync my entire Documents folder to the server. And being Git, it's easy to add certain files and directories to my .gitignore. To me at least, AWS Micro instance is the ideal remote backup solution since you can image your instance, effectively making a backup of the backup, it's on the cloud, so you can back up from anywhere you have a net connection and a Micro instance is free for the first year, $15.00/month after that, which is pretty cost effective.
So to sum it up for the tl;dnr crowd:
Get a hefty, durable briefcase that will both protect your gear and hinder theft
Buy products that enable tracking in case of loss/theft
Get a serious backup solution and use it
Never go through a US airport (Score:2)
Bad idea (Score:2)
A briefcase is a terrible place to hide a horcrux.
Socks? (Score:2)
I have a laptop, a tablet, and a cell phone with access to all of my documents through Dropbox, and all the books I own are on my kindle. Aside from having about four grand in electronics, the bag has everything of value that I own.
No extra clothing? Your socks must stink horribly!
High voltage briefcase (Score:2)
How about one of these?
http://jr-international.fr/100-000v-electrified-briefcase_ELALOC_itm_english.html [jr-international.fr]
"Try not to lose it so quickly this time, 007."
Bluetooth lugage tag (Score:2)
http://bluenio.com/ [bluenio.com]
and a small cable lock
http://tinyurl.com/7sndu6r [tinyurl.com]
Travel insurance is fine, but takes forever. (Score:2)
Even if you chain it to your wrist, other things can happen beyond theft, such as damage from carelessness or accident. And tech can just fail.
Keep $4K in a bank account at all times so you can immediately replace it. When I was living out of a case this saved my bacon more than once. Keep remote backups (encrypted, naturally) so you can get back your data.
Get insurance as well, but don't expect it to pay out in every situation or in a timely manner.
Make it ugly (Score:3)
Use an ugly, battered briefcase that looks like it would contain nothing of value. Camouflage is a time-honored method of defense across multiple species. Not foolproof of course, but there's usually lots of potential targets for a thief to nab and they have to make their choice at a glance, try to convince them that someone else's bag would make a more profitable target.
It can also help to write contact info "If found please call ......" in a clearly visible location in indelible ink on both the case and your most valuable stuff so that if it finds its way into the hands of an honest person you've got a chance of recovering it. Offering a reward may boost the chance even higher. Especially handy if you're concerned about the non-resalable stuff, a thief may well grab out the high-dollar items and then dump the rest where someone honest may find it.
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Expensive leather executive briefcase. My gym clothes go in there. A ratty nylon bag with the look of dank sweatpants and smelly shoes for my laptop and other pricey gear.
One thing to make sure of (Score:3)
The combination of backing up everything, encrypting everything, and insurance that other posters have mentioned should work. One thing to make sure of, though, is that you can get access to all your data back. If you're using a password manager, make sure the encrypted file is backed up to somewhere you'll have access to without the briefcase. Make sure the master key is backed up somewhere else -- like a USB drive kept in your apartment or a safety deposit box. Along with that you'll probably want to keep passwords and information you'll need quickly; your main email account password and your backup service password for instance.
Focus on data and reduce hardware (Score:2)
I also have a life on the road. I have had many things stolen. This is my philosophy now.
I don't spend a lot on technology anymore. I only buy what I think will be useful and what I need for work. The laptop I use is very old, my phone is quite old. I find I don't need much more.
I looked at the Galaxy Note and said to myself "Yes, that would be very useful in that I can use it for ebooks, as a phone as well as some light tasks when I've left the laptop at the hotel... but...
i
Insurrance (Score:2)
If you are worried about losing it you should have those items insured. On top of that keep your data encrypted and make regular backups (I would avoid Dropbox while you're at it, there are better services).
Backup hardware? (Score:2)
If everything is in 'the cloud' the electronics are just dumb terminals - buy a spare of each, ship the spares to a mail forwarder (like a mailbox etc.) and leave the spare there. With one phone call your electronics will be replaced in 24 hours.
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Especially for something like remote desktop.
Depends what you're using for remote desktop... I've been able to run a browser or a word processor through NX/SSH on a laptop wirelessly tethered to a cell phone with 3G turned off... 115kbit/s is more than enough bandwidth to handle a word processor or a spreadsheet when you're using the right protocols. VNC, particularly VNC with compression turned off, or worse, RDP6 or earlier, however, and you'll never get anything done.
My father used to do full desktop remote access over a 28.800 dialup connection,
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Now?
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Great idea! In fact, forget about the passwords and the insurance.
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Go back to the backpack, and wear it all the time.
I have seen a thief unzip a backpack on its owner's back, steal what was on top, and take off running.
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Hence, the much maligned hipster accessory, the messenger bag. Worn with the strap on the opposite shoulder, the bag is under your hand usually.
Depending on the neighborhood, that may or may not make a difference, though.
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* Data loss: I would combine an always running network backup (CrashPlan is my favorite) with a periodic backup to an external hard drive (Time Machine, or also CrashPlan). Dropbox is not really good enough for this, although it mitigates some of the problem.
I don't like Dropbox because the data is unencrypted and they have a poor security [economist.com] history [dereknewton.com]. However, they keep the data and even version it for you, and they're nearly ubiquitously available. I'm curious--why do you think that it's not good enough?