The summer travel season is in full swing and for many road warriors, it is time to cash in some of those hard-earned hotel and airline miles and treat the entire family to an annual vacation. For many business travelers who have packing and getting through airport security and onto the airplane down to an art form, traveling with the entire family in tow takes on extra stress. Maneuvering strollers and kids’ backpacks will likely mean your own briefcase and bags are an afterthought.
Despite what is meant to be a family vacation, many Americans will likely still take along their laptops to sneak in some work while the kids are at the pool…that’s if your laptop makes it. At the Los Angeles International Airport in a single month last year, the TSA found 154 laptops, 98 cell phones, and 18 iPads, according to the LA Times .
And each year, that figure rises.
The millions of Americans who will be flying this summer, and the thousands of businesses whose employees will be among them, should take these figures to heart. Many of those summer travelers will likely do some pretty careless things with their laptops in the vacation shuffle.
A recent study from AlertSec on when the biggest cybersecurity threats happen found that 4.3 percent of Americans say they’ve shoved their company laptop into a checked bag. If you’ve ever experienced a lost bag, this is something you’ll likely never do.
Even if you make it to your destination with all the kids’ bags and luggage, leaving the laptop in the car is never a good idea. More than 1 in 10 people (13.1 percent) admitted to doing this, according to AlertSec’s research.
But the biggest risk for your laptop might be while you take a dip in the pool. 13.2 percent of people reported leaving their laptop unattended.
But, if you think that because your laptop is password protected, your information is safe, here are some things to consider:
Password protected laptops create a false sense of security
According to AlertSec’s CEO Ebba Blitz, businesses overwhelmingly feel that standard security precautions–like lock screen passwords–create a false sense of security for laptop and mobile users. Perhaps this is because there are a variety of easy ways to hack into a password- protected device. Just ask the internet.
Lost and stolen laptops are one of the ways data is most easily compromised
80 percent of information theft is due to lost or stolen laptops and other equipment. Additionally, about 50 percent of network intrusions are performed with credentials gathered from lost or stolen devices. It might make good sense
Your laptop = the keys to the kingdom
The more information we store in the cloud, the more we need to secure the endpoints. Especially since user names and passwords are stored in the browser, a hacked laptop could mean giving away the keys to the figurative kingdom–all of your online accounts set to “remember you,” easy access to email and bank accounts. According to Android News, “One look at your browser history and the new owner of your recently departed laptop will have a lot more information than you’d like.”
Your company is only as strong as its weakest link
Last summer, thousands of NFL players’ medical records were put at risk when a laptop was stolen. The laptop was password-protected but not encrypted. And the reality is that most companies do not ensure their laptops are encrypted until a breach like this takes place.
Many employees of insurance and financial services companies are obligated to leverage third-party protection to the highest possible standard, given the sensitive nature of the data to which they have access, but small firms don’t have an IT department–or someone overseeing their device security. When they have data breaches, the ramifications are serious. For example, if an accountant’s unencrypted laptop were lost or stolen, tax returns, Social Security numbers and private information could be compromised, with disastrous consequences.
It’s much more than just a lost laptop
If your laptop is lost or stolen and hackers are able to gain access, it could mean major damage to your employer. A data breach could cost large companies $7.7 million on average. For startups or small business, the potential impact may not be as high, but the biggest costs may not be in data lost, but in understanding what proprietary information was accessed.
Blitz says the survey also revealed that most people don’t know about the security tools they are using and can’t guarantee what kind of security software is installed on their own laptops. In fact, more people could guarantee the use of ad blockers and anti-virus protection software than could guarantee that encryption software designed to protect their sensitive, personal data was installed on their machines.
The key takeaway: leave your laptop at home and enjoy the time with the family. A few days of disconnecting might be a challenge, but if your laptop is lost or stolen, it could create bigger headaches than remembering to pack your child’s favorite toy.
The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.