Computer Security - Do you lock your computer screen?

EQ Admin

EQ Forum Admin
Staff member
Maybe I developed this habit because I'm a systems administrator, sometimes have sensitive information on my screen, and have colleagues around me who will send email from my mail program to the team if I walk away from my computer and leave my screen unlocked, but I ALWAYS lock my screen even if I'm walking away for 15 seconds.

Do you lock your monitor when you get up from your computer?

Even when it is just to get a cup of coffee?

How many minutes until your screen saver turns on?

Is your screen saver password protected?
 

Big Dan

EQ Forum Moderator
Since I'm in the house here I only purposely lock my main desktop if I'm running a big file transfer to USB or am connected via FTP or SSH to one of my servers. This way the cat cannot trounce on the keyboard and mess anything up. Don't let me tell you about the time she kicked on Window's Magnifier and it took me an hour to figure it out, D'oh! :hammer: Other that the my screen sleeps and locks in 5 minutes.

The Mac Mini is always on and awake as it runs the Magic Jack which is now the house phone. I have a hot corner setup to sleep the monitor which in turn locks the screen. It's connected to the same monitor as my main box but it's a pain in the neck to switch between VGA and DVI, so I normally VNC into the Mac from my main box, laptop, or iPod Touch.

The laptop's monitor sleeps & locks in 1 minute whenever I'm out and about with it I Win + L anytime I walk way from it.

Wow that was a long answer to a short question.
 

EQ Admin

EQ Forum Admin
Staff member
Speaking of cats I discovered a new feature on my laptop yesterday. I was sitting here and noticed that there was a little light on above my laptop screen. I grabbed the picture below from the online manual. I thought I did not know that I had a web cam and that my work had activated it to see who was using the laptop. Some sort of who cares about privacy inventory shortcut. The only reason I had thought that is because I remember seeing something similar happen in the news this past year. A school district was activating the web cams and seeing who was using the kids web cams at home. The school district was grabbing all sorts of who knows what shots out of kids bedrooms etc. Anyway, I now nkow that my laptop has a keyboard light for when I'm trying to use it in the dark. Fn-PgUp turns the light on and off. Opposite ends of the keyboard but one of the kittens must have managed to hit both keys. They cross that keyboard all the time on their way up to the window above my computers.

Laptop Webcam.JPG Cats on Keyboard.JPG

That laptop does not look nearly as dirty in normal light. :eek:
 

Big Dan

EQ Forum Moderator
Yeah, I followed that school story on Ars. Sounds like a bunch of the IT people were pervs. I'm all for looking at cute chicks but with their knowledge and they gotta be of age! It sounded to me like the school covered up most of it before the authorities got to audit the computers.

Anywho luckily my laptop doesn't have a hotkey to kick on the webcam it's all software based but my cat loves to hit my wifi on off switch, I could swear she knows what she's doing too. I'll be streaming something over the network to my TV via my laptop and all of sudden it drops out.. Rosie was on top of my entrainment stand again!

Speaking of privacy and stuff I think it's really screwed up that anyone would remotely activate your webcam without your explicit permission. In the event you reported it lost/stolen then by all means do so but just a regular audit procedures? No way Jose.
 
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