The story of the lost or stolen laptop with ultra-sensitive information on it is all too common. A research study conducted in 2008 by the Ponemon Institute and sponsored by Dell, estimated that business travelers lost more than 12,000 laptops per week in US airports. Those numbers have surely increased in the four years since. If you haven’t already, now is a good time to start taking steps to minimize incidences of human error.

The first step is probably the most obvious. Password protect all laptops, tablet PCs and smart devices. And don’t use easy to guess passwords. Complicate them by using capital and lower case letters, symbols and numbers. Of course, the more complex the password, the more likely you are to forget it. Keep your passwords written down and locked away in a secure place, preferably away from your desk.

Another way to keep sensitive files safe is by encrypting them or password protecting them. But keep in mind that this works best if the password protecting your documents is different from the one you use to launch Windows on your computer. You could even create a different password for each document or file folder.

Laptops with biometric security add an extra layer of protection. That doesn’t mean you should stop using passwords. Biometrics serve as supplements to passwords and should never be used as replacements for them.

The best way to keep anyone from being able to access important information is by not storing anything of vital importance on a portable device, especially a smart phone. It’s better to store files on a thumb drive. As an extra precaution, keep the thumb drive in your pocket or around your neck, as many are sold with lanyards. That way, if a laptop, tablet or smart device is lost or stolen, the files are still secure.

Business travel is a must for some people, so it’s good to know that there are security devices that can help you keep track of your laptop in busy airport terminals, coffee shops or wherever you may be. One is a laptop cable. Laptop cables come in many varieties and can be purchased for as little as $24 in places like Office Depot. With a laptop cable, you can secure your computer to a desk or table or bathroom sink. You can also buy a laptop security alarm that emits a loud noise when the laptop is moved or the alarm is tampered with.

Don’t rest on your laurels. New software and devices are being updated and created all the time. Update software programs and upgrade or replace security devices like locks, alarms, etc., so that you always have the latest protection.

Finally, educate your employees. Have a set of security guidelines. Post them in the break room, above the fax machine, the water cooler, etc. In addition, go over security the guidelines with your employees at least once a week. Make it fun. Have some sort of contest with a gift card to a local restaurant or coffee shop as the prize. Quiz your employees on the security procedures you’ve established. Whoever answers the most questions correctly wins the gift card. Using it as a way to unwind on Friday afternoon or get going on Monday morning could make it something your employees look forward to with anticipation rather than dread.

No matter how many precautions you take to protect your company’s vital information, if you don’t take steps to reduce incidences of human error, then it’s all for naught.

If there’s one area where people should be willing to splurge, it’s anti-virus software. Most companies, like McAfee, charge for a whole year of protection, which includes updates. Since even anti-virus protection from reputable companies isn’t 100% guaranteed, why would anyone want to stack the deck against himself by skimping on anti-virus protection?

Some people can’t afford to pay McAfee or Symantec for anti-virus protection. The free software is the best they can do. But that’s probably not true for most. Most people who use free anti-virus software want to save money. So, they decide to go with free anti-virus software because they believe it will provide them with enough protection. It won’t. Using free anti-virus software is like going out into the rain and using an umbrella with holes in it. Free anti-virus software companies can’t keep up with all the new viruses, malware, etc. that’s coming out. In order to do that, they would have to stop offering the software for free. So, it’s impossible for users to be as well protected as those who buy security software from reputable companies. But there’s another, more serious danger.

Sometimes free anti-virus software contains the very viruses it claims to guard against. And make no mistake, malware and viruses can not only wreak havoc on a person’s computer, but they can also end up costing her a lot of money. Malware can lead to corrupted files, crashed hard drives or, worse, identity theft. So, in the long run, it just doesn’t pay to take a chance on free anti-virus software.

Some ways to tell if a computer is infected are:

• If popups suddenly appear on the computer
• If the system becomes sluggish or often crashes
• If unfamiliar files show up on the computer
• If the computer suddenly has little or no hard drive space or memory
• If the Internet browser goes to certain pages or the home page changes

Sadly, if the free anti-virus software is legitimate, it won’t take effect until after a computer has been infected. And how much damage could have been done by that time?

Free anti-virus software doesn’t come with any type of firewall protection. That has to be installed separately. This can be a time consuming process, especially for someone who’s not computer savvy. If there’s a compatibility issue with the firewall protection, then the whole process has to begin again. So, although the anti-virus software didn’t cost anything financially, it cost a lot in time and frustration.

Sometimes, the offer of free anti-virus software is just a marketing ploy. Once the customer installs the free software, he’s inundated with popups warning him that he’s not fully protected and must buy the “complete” version of the software for full protection. This is not the same as the free scans or free trials offered by companies like McAfee or Symantec.

With all the threats on the Internet these days, choosing to save money by using free anti-virus software seems counterintuitive, especially for people who use their computers for business.

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And so it begins. According to a press release issued by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on Jan. 19, 2012, four people have been arrested and charged as participants in an international organized crime ring. On the list of their alleged crimes is copyright infringement; it is one of the biggest criminal copyright cases ever brought by the United States.

Kim Schmitz (aka Kim Dotcom and Kim Tim Jim Vestor), 37, the founder of Megaupload.com, and three of his cohorts — chief marketing officer Finn Batato, 38; chief technical officer Mathias Ortmann, 40; and programmer Bram van der Kolk (aka Bramos), 29 — were arrested in Auckland, New Zealand, at the request of the FBI and the United States Department of Justice. Three others, graphic designer, Julius Bencko, 35; software programmer Andrus Nomm, 32; and head of business development Sven Echternach, 39 are still free. In addition to arresting the conspirators, the Auckland police seized more than $12 million in cash and assets.

The group is alleged to have not only facilitated online piracy but encouraged it by offering incentives for uploading pirated content, including movies (prior to their theatrical releases), electronic books, music and other popular copyrighted works. Specifically, they allegedly paid people whom they knew uploaded pirated content. When the copyright holders informed them that they had pirated content on their websites, they only went through the motions of removing it. The FBI estimates that the group’s activities cost copyright holders $500 million in potential earnings while generating $175 million in profits for themselves through the sale of advertising and premium memberships.

The maximum penalty for conspiracy to commit copyright infringement is five years in prison. The maximum penalties for the other charges, conspiracy to commit racketeering and conspiracy to commit money laundering, are 20 years each. So, Schmitz et al are looking at a maximum of 45 years in prison if found guilty on all counts.

The announcement of these arrests came just one day after Wikipedia, Reddit and other sites “went dark” to protest the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA), which legislators are considering passing into laws. The case is part of the Department of Justices’ IP Task Force, which seeks to “combat the growing number of domestic and international intellectual property crimes, protect the health and safety of American consumers and safeguard the nation’s economic security against those who seek to profit illegally from American creativity, innovation and hard work.”

According to Ry Crozier in his article for IT News, the hacker group Anonymous shut down the Department of Justice’s website as well as the websites of the Motion Picture Association of America, Record Industry of America and Universal Music in response to the FBI’s shutting down of Megaupload.com and its affiliate Megavideo.com.

The case against Kim Schmitz and alleged his co-conspirators will be prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia and the Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section in the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.

Anyone who visits either of those sites will see the following: