No, this is not a discussion about obesity (yuk, yuk). It is about laptop computer security. A headline served up by my RSS newsfeed this morning caught my eye: "Londoners top world in leaving laptops in taxis." In a class I teach, Internet Security: Tools and Techniques, I discuss "Securing the Road Warrior and the Teleworker." I have references to two earlier articles on the same subject. (This one about a lost US Dept. of State notebook and another posted on MSNBC entitled "Top Secret British Laptop Missing, Defense Ministry official reportedly left laptop in taxi.") And Wired mentions it here.

Here are pointers to 3 columns that touch on the protection needs of notebook PCs. They could use a bit of updating, but the problems and the solutions have not changed.

• PC Disk Encryption: A Lesson Learned and Recommendations
• Extending the Perimeter: Protecting the Telecommuter and the Road Warrior (Part 1)
• Extending the Perimeter: Protecting the Telecommuter and the Road Warrior (Part 2)

In a recent short blog entry, I pointed you to Wayne Rash's column and added a few suggestions of my own. A friend was singulary unimpressed. I suspect that it is because Wayne's column -- and my enthusiastic support of it -- isn't "the sky is falling" enough for some security folks. Maybe I am getting too old for this. I rather believe that after 18 years of doing this, I have a good sense of real risk. There is a sense that "a little paranoia is a good thing" in network security. That is wrong. Paranoia is a disorder. It is irrational. A clear sense of real risk is what we need.

All to say, here is another call for calm that my friend might not like as posted in The Register.