I am looking in the market for a reliable and trust-worthy cable lock for my laptop and docking station. It will be used mainly in a college dorm attached to a desk leg. I am aware that many are easily picked and accessable, so I want to steer clear of those. Does anyone have any recommendations or have seen any good deals on any recently?
nsuperman86 said:I am looking in the market for a reliable and trust-worthy cable lock for my laptop and docking station. It will be used mainly in a college dorm attached to a desk leg. I am aware that many are easily picked and accessable, so I want to steer clear of those. Does anyone have any recommendations or have seen any good deals on any recently? you are sure that desk leg cannot be lifted?
Check that link out, it has the secutiry warnings on a few locks.
Ummmmmm... what exactly were you expecting? ALL cable locks are only meant as a deterrant, and ALL use either keys or combinations. It doesn't matter what brand. If someone wants your laptop bad enough, they'll either break the desk leg off, get something to snip the cable, or steal the whole desk with your laptop attached to it (all which can take a matter of seconds). And as for those locks on that page, those are probably the only ones they have tested (they don't list ANY that have passed). Sorry to say this, but you're not going to find anything more secure than a cable lock by looking at cable locks. If you want more security, you can buy a huge padlock and a 1" chain to secure your laptop to your desk. It's more of a DIY project, but it'll be harder to break (if installed correctly)...
PS: Did anyone notice that you need to PAY these people in order to to view their "proof"? What's up with that???
Since the link you furnished doesn't really provide any info other than their opinion, can you post the report here? I have the Targus Defcon lock and would like to know how to unlick it if I forget the combo. Does the reprot provdie info on how many people (other than college students) know this secret method to unlock it?
Well of course they are all deterrents, but my point of posting this topic was to find what is a little more reliable than others. As for the security reports apparently you can buy the reports through that site which has videos on how you can open the locks.
nsuperman86 said:Well of course they are all deterrents, but my point of posting this topic was to find what is a little more reliable than others. As for the security reports apparently you can buy the reports through that site which has videos on how you can open the locks.
In all honesty, I highly doubt that any cable lock will be significantly more reliable than the ones they tested (if their report and videos weren't doctored or the locks themselves weren't rigged beforehand). The reason for this is because all existing cable locks use the same or extremely similar locking mechanisms (except for that one that takes a flimsy combination mini-padlock, which seems even less secure). And don't think that these cable locks are the only ones that can be "defeated"... these were probably the only ones they tested because they're popular brand names, and there's many lesser-known brands out there that would probably fare about the same.
Unless you spend more money and get another type of laptop lock (or make your own), it probably won't make that much of a difference.
EDIT: Just to add on, the BEST way to prevent theft is to BE SMART! Don't leave your notebook unattended in any public place (ie: library, computer lab, cafeteria, etc). If you do have to leave your notebook unattended for a short period of time, ask a friend or someone you know and trust to watch it for you. If you're going to leave your notebook in your dorm, secure it to your table using your cable lock. If you live with a roommate, have a talk with him/her to be careful about leaving the room unattended. If you are going to leave your room, ALWAYS lock your door. You can even go as far as registering your notebook with your University police, or subscribing to a service that does that. If you're really paranoid, you can load a tracking program on your computer that will call into a control center every time it's connected to the Internet. However, for most people the last one, maybe two, suggestions are too much. These suggestions, in addition to any cable lock, will deter all but the most determined thieves (you must have some pretty important information on your laptop for them to go through all that trouble and risk being caught instead of picking on a more naive and less careful person with a better and more expensive laptop than you... but if it's the information you're worried about, there's always better ways to secure your information than a cable lock).
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