I have included articles about security, and securing your computer with firewalls and software in previous blog postings. One area that I have not touched on yet, is physical security. By that, I mean securing your system against physical access.
If someone has physical access, it is often possible to bypass the security measures that you have taken.
One common mistake, is not logging out of your computer. Many people leave themselves logged in when the leave the office. They do not want to wait for the login to complete the next work day. This is very risky. What if the someone on the nightly cleaning crew can not be trusted, for example? If you leave yourself logged in, then that person has access to all of your documents with the click of a mouse. You should always log off of your computer.
Logging off may not be enough, by itself. Someone with a little knowledge, and a bootable CD, USB drive, or floppy diskette may get unsecured access by bypassing the Windows operating system, or its security, with direct access programs.
Therefore, if you can not lock everyone away from your system, effective physically security requires advanced security by changing some of windows deep settings. These settings require a more technical understanding of windows than you may have. We are happy to evaluate your systems, and work with you to make sure that they are as secure as possible. Email us to setup a session.