The Upgrade column: USB as laptop alternative

When you're on the road there are numerous ways your data is at risk, especially when these days you're whipping out a laptop at a moment's notice to get online. SanDisk's Wojtek Rudko considers some must-haves for the seasoned traveller - and a tiny alternative he spends time evangelising.

There are plenty of problems that can befall the mobile businessman. We run the gauntlet facing all travellers - flights cancelled and delayed, bags lost or swapped, not to mention the armies of other people's children to negotiate.

But we also have the responsibility of being the vessel for our company's interests and information. In my role as SanDisk's product marketing manager for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, I travel far and wide and have plenty of stories to tell.

I am more than qualified to comment on how embarrassing it can be when your technology lets you down on a corporate trip.

However good we think we are at our jobs, we are nothing without our tools. There is only so much you can legitimately say about your company, its achievements and strategies without the figures, plans and documents that illustrate exactly what it is you do. The laptop becomes as much of a crutch for your confidence as it is a technological resource.

Despite having a veritable arsenal of travel adaptors crammed into a drawer at home, I have more than once brought the wrong unit with me (or forgotten it entirely). Another common mistake is failing to pack the correct cables that will charge a laptop or connect it to its peripheral devices.

Manufacturers are cottoning on to this problem. Increasingly, they are shipping common types of power cables, so you only need to remember the laptop and one cable, rather than different ones for each device. These days, most of the devices that the business traveller uses can be charged from a USB port. So, if you've remembered your laptop, you're halfway there.

However, by carrying your laptop into situations where you risk it being stolen or hacked into you are also making sensitive corporate and personal information extremely vulnerable. The forces of evil are constantly coming up with new ways to siphon off data - and possibly money - and the mobile businessman is a pretty easy target. A new form of wireless phishing, for example, entices users to enter private details into what they think is a public network in an airport or hotel. Next step? ID theft.

I'm sure we all nod dismissively at urges to back up folders. It's common sense. But delaying this chore while you pop across the Channel for an hour's meeting could cost you your work for the last month, year or decade. A number of companies now manufacture external hard drives which can back up huge amounts of data.

As I mentioned, losing your information is only half of the nightmare that can result from a lost laptop. Without wanting to sound too apocalyptic, the possibility of it falling into the wrong hands could be much, much more serious.

It is important to protect your information with encryption. Simply making up passwords worthy of Bletchley Park is not good enough. One of the offerings I sell, SanDisk's Cruzer Titanium, is a USB flash drive with built-in encryption software, offering a straightforward platform for securing information.

If the worse comes to the worst, there are some measures you can take to track down a stolen or lost laptop. Some laptop manufacturers are beginning to offer this service as part of the package when you buy a PC, as is the case with Lenovo's Computrace.

Migrant laptops might seem to be more trouble than they are worth. If at all possible, it's great to cut them out of the equation all together. Information that can be carried on a CD or USB can be slipped safely into your pocket. You don't need to subject it to the various travel gremlins that threaten a device the size of a laptop. And with hand-luggage regulations in their current state of flux, we may not be able to carry them into the cabin of airplanes for much longer. And who would entrust their computer to the baggage-handlers-come-discus-throwers?

I look at U3 technology from SanDisk as the most workable solution to this problem. A USB device with this technology enables a user to access Outlook and other desktop apps from any other computer in the world (with a USB port). No laptop required.

Problem solved? Not quite. Your information is still vulnerable if you don't take proper steps to encrypt and protect it. We in the tech industry are doing our best but we can't be responsible for reminding you to take your laptop out of the overhead locker. Manufacturers are getting better and better at protecting technology and information but we still haven't quite worked out how to solve the old-fashioned cup-of-coffee-over-the-keyboard dilemma.

Wojtek Rudko is SanDisk product marketing manager for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

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