• EuroNutellaMan@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    1
    ·
    4 months ago

    I mean, I think it’s a good idea to enable it on a laptop.

    I mean if someone steals your laptop they can access all your files without it, and even though 90% of files may be useless there’s always chances to find passwords (often reused, even if encrypted can be decrypted if they aren’t strong), bank details, documents, etc oh and cookies for your browser sessions etc etc. If I were a laptop thief (which I’m not) I’d probably look for those too before formatting everything, that could be extra money.

    That’s why I encrypt my laptop’s drive. That way even if it’s stolen the only thing I have to really worry about is not having a laptop anymore.

    • trafficnab@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      4 months ago

      Yeah but I don’t think the average smash and grab thief is going to be smart enough to recognize the potential value of the data on the laptop, they’re just going to pawn the thing off as quickly as possible

      Anyone smart enough to want the data probably doesn’t need to smash a window, they’ll just access the data remotely when the computer is on and the drive is unencrypted

      So even then, it only protects you from the very narrow overlap of thieves who are dumb enough to need to break into cars for a living, but smart enough to harvest data off of stolen laptops