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Checklist · Security habits
Traveling with a work laptop
Airports, hotels and coffee shops are where laptops get lost, stolen or snooped on.
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What's inside
The full text
Before you go
Pack
- Install updates and restart
- Make sure files are saved to the cloud or shared drive
- Check two-step sign-in works on your phone
- Pack a charger, and a privacy screen if you have one
- Leave behind what you don't need
On the way
Keep it close
- Laptop in your carry-on, never checked
- Don't leave it in a car, even locked
- Lock the screen at every stop
- Watch it through the security scanner
While there
Connect carefully
- Use your phone's hotspot over public Wi-Fi
- Never use a public computer for work email
- Skip public USB charging. Use your own plug
- Keep the laptop in the hotel safe or with you
If it's lost
Act fast
- Call your IT support, any hour
- Ask them to lock it and sign it out remotely
- Change your passwords
- File a police report for insurance
Traveling outside the country?
Tell IT before you go. Some sign-in protections block logins from abroad, and some countries have rules about what's on your laptop.
Security habits
More printables like this
Lock it when you leave
An unlocked screen is an open door. It takes one second to close it.
Passphrases beat passwords
Long and easy to remember is stronger than short and complicated.
Questions about anything in here?
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