Stolen Fidelity computer raises privacy fears - Security - MSNBC.com

Fidelity Investments Laptop Stolen: Identity of 200,000 customers at risk

A laptop was stolen from a Fidelity Investments employee. The laptop included account information for about 200,000 customers. The data included names, addresses, birth dates and social security numbers.

I wrote in one of my first newsletters years ago that just because your laptop can hold gigabytes of information doesn't mean that you need to load it on there. If you are buying a laptop computer, I strongly recommend that you buy one with the smallest hard drive available. If you have more budget, buy an external drive to keep at home. Having a small drive on your laptop will make you more consciencious of which data you carry around with you, and it might make you back up your info more often.

Let's say you have a need to carry sensitive ID documentation, you might want to carry the information on an encrypted thumbdrive. Don't encrypt your main boot drive because Murphy's law applies to encrypted drives.Stolen Fidelity computer raises privacy fears - Security - MSNBC.com