Chief: Data on stolen police laptop safe because laptop needs power cord

seacoastonline.com

25 points·route3··12 comments

Another instance of "Anyone can create a security system that they themselves cannot defeat."

Here's to hoping that an OEM or software/solutions provider implemented some sort of local disk encryption before deploying to the field.

Well, at least the data is safe... I know I always keep my power cord and laptop separate for this very reason...*

*Sarcasm

Sounds like a small town. Probably the Chief is right - nobody there is going to go buy an obsolete power supply for an obsolete stolen laptop.

If they broke into a police cruiser to steal such an old laptop, there's a good chance they were after the data rather than the hardware.

I don't think the risk vs. reward would justify that crime for your average thief.

Your average thief is a kid looking for thrills.

Question: Why is the power cord so important? Can one not be made with cheap materials? I was waiting for a punch line but it didn't come.

The only power cord you might need is for your electric screwdriver to open op the laptop, remove the hard drive, and plug it in to another computer.

As opposed to removing the hard drive and reading the data directly...

I just don't know what to say to that except I kind of smiled and shook my head. Words can't express people sometimes.

would love to find out if in fact there is some encryption layer on this thing, cause if not, that opens a whole other scandalous can of worms

you can buy laptop charges that fit almost any laptop for $60 at walmart (i have one). If the thief realizes that the police records may be worth money i'm sure it would be no trouble at all to pick up a charger.

Hopefully the laptop has a few more layers of security built in.

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