PC Guardian Quarterly, Fall 2007, Volume V
HOW BEST IN CLASS COMPANIES PROTECT THEIR SENSITIVE DATA
In its May 2007 report titled Thwarting Data Loss Carol Baroudi, Research Director for Aberdeen Group, writes, “No company or organization of stature is exempt from the peril represented by a breach of its sensitive data.” Based on a survey of more than 150 organizations, the paper compares the behaviors of “best in class, industry average, and laggard” companies in how they protect their sensitive data.

Defined as the top 20% of performers, the Aberdeen Group report states that the best companies share several common characteristics:
  • They are four times more likely to use real time notification of inappropriate data use than industry laggards (bottom 30% of performers)
  • They train employees in appropriate data use
  • They monitor and audit data use
  • They view regulatory compliance as a top driver
To achieve best in class performance, organizations must:
  • Identify and classify sensitive data throughout systems - in email, spreadsheets, and wherever it resides
  • Create a data use policy and hold users responsible with clear consequences for inappropriate use
  • Enforce regulatory compliance
See the full report (PDF)


SAVE THOUSANDS AND SLOW DOWN GLOBAL WARMING

Here at PC Guardian, we try to do our part to reduce our carbon imprint by saving energy whenever possible. One easy thing to do stares us in the face every day. Most of us are part of the 104 million Americans who regularly use a computer as part of their jobs. However, the cost to power these PCs really adds up, especially if they're running 24/7. A recent study conducted by Harris Interactive and 1E, found that 20% of employees "never" shut off their computers at the end of the day, and 60% of employees "don't always" shut off their computer at night. Of these, 2 out of 5 cite "IT policy and procedure" as the reason. In other words, they believe the IT department doesn't want them to.

The PC Energy Report calculates that companies across the US waste $1.72 billion to supply power to PCs that are not always shut down. This assumes half the computers have sleep mode enabled, and overnight means 14.5 hours. Under this scenario, a company with 10,000 PCs wastes $165,000 a year; money easily saved with a little training and enforcement. For additional perspective, it takes between 60 and 300 trees to absorb the yearly CO2 of a computer left on 24/7. So if your company is leaving 6000 computers on every night, to remain carbon neutral, you'd have to plant between 180,000 and 1.8 million trees a year. So much for your weekends.

Read more about efficient computing from the Climate Savers Computing Initiative website, a non-profit group started by Google and Intel earlier this year.


PC GUARDIAN NEWS

UK HOSPITAL SAYS:
“Not One Report of Anything Gone Astray”

A Birmingham, England area hospital group recently installed over two thousand Perma Dome Packages as part of a new desktop computer roll out program, reports Avanquest® Solutions, PC Guardian's outstanding UK distributor. In addition to its data encryption policy, the customer wanted to avoid the cost and inconvenience of equipment "going missing".

Customer Mohammed Irfan of the Sandwell & West Birmingham Hospitals, NHS Trust, said once the security solution had been installed, “there has not been one report of anything having gone astray.” The Three Perma Dome Package, a cost effective all-in-one solution secures a computer and monitor by using a 2" × 2" solid metal, neoprene-coated Perma Dome, Security Cable, and Padlock. Download the case study, or contact your Regional Sales Manager to find out more.


PC GUARDIAN IN BLACK & WHITE

As Billy Crystal's Fernando Lamas used to always say, “It's better to look good than to feel good.” We at PC Guardian still value performance as #1, but we're not style cave people either. We're about to introduce new versions of our popular keyed locks in Simple White. That's right, you heard it here first. Look for a new product notification email in your inbox shortly.

For those of you with a lighter color palette in your workstation set-ups, a white cable might be just the ticket. Using white cables to lock down Apple® computers is a no brainer, and white might just go better with many of the new colors of laptops recently introduced by Dell and other popular makers. Since high style is more important to some, we think it might also get some end users to lock down their computers more consistently, and there's nothing wrong with that. 		QUICK LINKS

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TIPS FROM THE TRENCHES:
Real world advice from PC Guardian Employees on the front lines
From Todd Seidman, Regional Sales Manager, Northwest: A large banking customer of mine had been purchasing one of our competitor's resettable combination locks and was spending a lot of money replacing the lock whenever there was staff turnover. The reason was the employee didn't tell the company what their combination was, so the locks had to be cut off the computer and replaced. Now they use our Master Coded Combo Lock, and now when employees leave, my customer can reset the combination and reuse the lock. It's been a real money saver for them.




APPLE® ROUNDS OUT TOP THREE IN US LAPTOP SALES
NPD Group Inc. reports that Apple is now the #3 seller of laptop computers in the US. They say Apple sold 17.6% of all laptops in June, up from 14.3% the month earlier, right behind HP and Toshiba. IDC Research, giving their Q2 totals, also includes Apple at #3 for all computer sales, tied with Gateway, and behind HP and Dell.
Read the NPD story
See the IDC Research #'s



ABOUT PC GUARDIAN
PC Guardian is a leading designer and manufacturer of computer and data security solutions for corporations, resellers and distributors. Protecting corporate assets with patented, award winning products since 1984, PC Guardian successfully serves a wide range of businesses, including many Fortune 1,000 companies, by solving their security needs and ensuring compliance through innovative products, quality, integrity, and commitment to exceptional service and results.