Your Privacy: Risks and Solutions
Privacy threats in our highly-connected world are not just annoying. They also endanger our businesses, finances, reputations, and sometimes even our families. Fight back with us!
  • Overview
  • Lost Laptop
  • Scams and Hackers
  • Social Media

Does your computer contain any of these items?

  • Personal photos and images
  • Financial account data
  • Tax forms
  • Anything displaying your social security number, such as a job application
  • Sensitive personal information like emails to your doctor or close friends
  • Passwords to web sites, particularly financial sites
  • Valuable content like your own art, design work, or business plans
  • Confidential information about your clients or customers

  • On average, a laptop is stolen ever 53 seconds.2
  • The average cost of a business’s lost laptop is $49,246.3
  • In a recent survey of companies, more than 50% experienced more than 10 cybercrime attacks over the past year.4
  • Up to 12,000 laptops are lost in U.S. airports each week.5


If your computer has any of the above, your privacy is vulnerable to hackers, snoops and thieves. Playing the odds may sound fun to some thrill-seekers, but if you want to rest confidently at night, there are smart steps you can take right now.

Here is what you can do about each risk area:

2 Gartner
3 “The Cost of a Lost Laptop” by Ponemon Institute, April 22, 2009
4 “Business Risk of a Lost Laptop” by Ponemon Institute, April, 2009
5 “Airport Insecurity – The Case of Missing & Lost Laptop” by Ponemon Institute, June 30, 2008

Privacy Risk #1: The Lost or Stolen Laptop

Did you know that Windows logins can be easily bypassed in ways that we don’t want to broadcast here?

A quick Web search will tell you how, unfortunately.

Did you know that even deleted files can be accessed if your hard drive is removed?

Statistics tell us that on average, a laptop is stolen every 53 seconds. But there are ways to protect yourself even if it happens to you.


  • On average, a laptop is stolen ever 53 seconds.2
  • The average cost of a business’s lost laptop is $49,246.3
  • In a recent survey of companies, more than 50% experienced more than 10 cybercrime attacks over the past year.4
  • Up to 12,000 laptops are lost in U.S. airports each week.5


Personal privacy risks
If your laptop disappears, your financial accounts and other valuable personal or sensitive data are at risk.

1 in 30 people experience identity theft, and a stolen laptop is one way that identities can be harvested.
  • The average cost of getting your identity stolen is $5700.1
  • It takes on average 25 to 40 hours (over the course of months or years) to clean up the mess it creates.
  • Credit can be destroyed and crimes can be committed with your identity.
Solution
Be smart and install software that encrypts your entire hard drive automatically so there is no risk if your laptop goes missing.

ZoneAlarm DataLock even encrypts deleted files.

And, DataLock constantly and invisibly encrypts as you add and edit files, so you never have to remember to encrypt anything – everything is already encrypted.
Professional privacy risks
If you are a professional or business owner, consider this: If your laptop gets into the wrong hands, is your livelihood at stake?

It is very important that you protect your and your clients' privacy if you are one of the following:
  • Small Business Owner
  • Lawyer
  • Accountant
  • Medical Professional
  • Consultant
  • Financial Advisor
  • Mortgage/Real Estate Broker


NOTE: Any profession bound by confidentiality agreements or laws should have laptop encryption.
Solution
ZoneAlarm DataLock laptop encryption makes it easy for you to protect your job and your clients.

It automatically encrypts everything on your hard drive by jumbling the data in such a way that it cannot be deciphered without a password.

What’s more, it is powered by the same technology used in Check Point Full Disk Encryption solution. This technology is proven by over 14 million users in businesses and government agencies of all sizes, around the world.

1 Javelin Strategy & Research Survey - February 2007
2 Gartner
3 “The Cost of a Lost Laptop” by Ponemon Institute, April 22, 2009
4 “Business Risk of a Lost Laptop” by Ponemon Institute, April, 2009
5 “Airport Insecurity – The Case of Missing & Lost Laptop” by Ponemon Institute, June 30, 2008

Privacy Risk #2: Online Scams and Hackers

There are several ways that people are getting their privacy scammed and hacked online.

Fortunately, companies like Check Point have worked hard to develop, consumer-friendly solutions that protect
you from each of these risks.

ZoneAlarm Extreme Security offers all the solutions listed below, plus you can get it with ZoneAlarm DataLock to protect your data in case of laptop loss or theft.

Check our product comparison at-a-glance to find these features in our other products.

Online privacy risks

You could accidentally download spyware

You could land on a booby-trapped website and suffer a drive-by download that gathers your information

You maybe tricked into giving out passwords or confidential data by scam emails or fake websites

Your computer could get hacked

Your passwords could be stolen
Solution

Advanced Download Protection prevents sneaky spyware downloads. Anti-virus rids your system of spyware.

Browser Security with Virtual Browsing neutralizes drive-bys before they can hit you

Anti-Phishing detects imposter sites before you give them anything

Two-Way Firewall with Stealth Mode keeps hackers out Operating System Firewall shuts out even the most sophisticated hackers

Browser Security
  • Keeps spies in the dark with Keylogger Jamming
  • Hides anything you’ve typed online with Private Browsing
  • Detects and alerts you of risky sites

Privacy Risk #3: The Social Media Universe