As you may have already read in the Torch, a number of laptops have been stolen on campus in recent weeks. We wanted to give you some simple and easy tips to help prevent your becoming a victim of laptop thieves, as well as pointers to help you recover quickly should your laptop be lost or stolen.

The simplest way to keep your laptop safe, which is also the one most commonly overlooked--Keep your room or office locked when you step away for a few moments. We often take this very basic precaution when we are away for a longer amount of time, however, don't follow this for a quick trip to the bathroom. A reasonably skilled thief needs less than 30 seconds to make off with your laptop and other valuables that you have lying around. When in public places such as the Christopher Center, make use of lockers on the 1st and 3rd floor, or simply take the laptop with you when you have to walk away for a moment.

The above precaution would likely prevent 90% of laptop thefts not only here but everywhere, as it removes the easy opportunity for the thief. If you want more protection, your potential solution is to lock your laptop to some item in the room by using a security lock. These are available at most major retailers such as Best Buy, Wal-Mart, Staples, and others, and secure your laptop with a steel cable that is difficult to cut with most common tools. This can offer you added protection, particularly if your door or locker is broken into.

Here are a few simple steps to help you recover should your laptop be lost or stolen despite your best efforts:

Consider what information you keep on your laptop. While most thieves are only interested in selling the hardware, more sophisticated thieves may also look for information that could be used in identity theft or to access bank information since that information will yield additional money. If you have to keep sensitive information on your laptop or on an external hard drive or flash drive, password protect your computer and consider using encryption options built into most recent operating systems for added protection.

Make sure you make backups of critical information that you have on your laptop such as research or class work. There are several free services that allow you to copy information to a location where it will be backed up and saved for you. These include Netstorage available on campus (h: drive), or you may prefer services such as AOL's X-Drive, which offer automated backup services and some storage for free. While USB drives and external hard drives are equally useful, they are of course also subject to potential theft or loss.

Lastly, as you do research or take other information on the road with you, keep in mind that several recently enacted laws include requirements for notification of people should you have certain information about other people on your laptop. Should your laptop be lost or stolen, you may be required to notify those whose information was on the laptop of the theft. It is also important to make sure sensitive information is permanently cleaned from the laptop after it is no longer needed. Simply deleting it will not necessarily remove the information from the computer. Several tools such as CCleaner are available to perform more permanent removal from the hard drive.

We hope this information will help you avoid becoming a victim of theft. Thieves are virtually always looking for the easy target. Make sure you keep your laptop and other valuables reasonably secure, and thieves will move on to somewhere else.