Security threats Toolkit

Laptop swiped at security show

Dan Ilet ZDNet.co.uk

Published: 22 Sep 2004 12:15 BST

The laptop of a security firm salesman was stolen yesterday at a major IT security conference in London.

The portable computer belongs to identity management firm -- and sponsor for the event -- Netegrity, and was taken from behind the firm's stand on the vendor floor of Gartner's IT Security Summit.

The laptop bag was later discovered with all its contents except for the laptop.

"You tend to think that people attending an event of that kind would not do something like that," a spokesperson for Netegrity said. "[The salesman] saw somebody suspicious who didn't look like one of the crowd and thought he should report it, but didn't."

The firm later reported the incident to the police, who are now investigating the matter.

A spokeswoman for Gartner said: "There was a personal briefcase stolen that went missing at the conference. [The police] are looking at CCTV to see if they can catch the culprit. People are urged to take care of their belongings."

At the conference, Gartner analyst John Girard gave a talk on mobile security. In a previous article on ZDNet UK, Girard gave these five recommendations to keep your laptop secure:

"Keep your laptop in sight while going through security checkpoints. Always have the laptop in carry-on luggage. Tape a business card to the laptop. Avoid leaving your laptop in hotel baggage-hold rooms. Lock the laptop or removable hard drive if equipped in a secure place when it's not in use."

Netegrity provides identity and access management solutions for 850 firms around the world.