Laptops and netbooks, mobile and Wi-Fi Internet connections, remote access and VPNs - these are the daily tools of telecommuters, teleworkers and road warriors. The benefits this cutting-edge technology brings to the companies and employees are obvious, especially in terms of lowering costs and increasing productivity on a pace that follows a natural business flow and real time interactions.
But besides the undisputable advantages, the same technological boost is responsible for placing the off-site workers among the most exposed users in the IT&C world.
The current e-threats landscape already offers more than 2 000 new and mutated viruses per day, almost 50 000 phishing attempts per month and more than 1-million hijacked computers that spread bots, rootkits, Trojans and other malware during one year. Adding to these cyber menaces, remote staff is also faced with the risks of laptop theft or data interception, while companies usually confront with intruders that attempt to access the corporate network posing as employees.
To safeguard and secure the integrity of remote systems, corporate network and business data, probably the best strategy is a multi-tiered approach that covers three main aspects: physical, connectivity and data.
 
The Physical Tier - Protecting Your Laptop
On one hand, laptops and netbooks are twice as expensive as the classical desktop solutions, especially because they include state of the art technology, designed to fulfill users' expectations in terms of computing power, storage, and