Simple Laptop Security: Bios Passwords

Setting a bios password on a laptop is a simple. Laptops are at high risk for being stolen and often contain "on the road" copies of sensitive data. The low cost of this protection makes it ideal as minimum level of security. (Highly sensitive or legally regulated data will require more protection than this.)




For example, a Dell laptop has bios password protection features that can limit access to the hard drive, bios settings and alternative boot devices. Here, the Internal HDD PW is set. It prevents the hard drive from booting until the correct password is given.





Setting the bios Password Bypass feature can make this feature harder to avoid. By turning the Password Bypass OFF, one cannot go into the BIOS setup and turn off/evade the effect of the hard drive password, Internal HDD PW, setting.

In simple laptop theft cases, the computer is stolen for quick resale rather than collecting information. It is actually more likely that the hard drive would be removed or replaced that that a serious effort to crack the protective password would take occur.

It is wise to avoid choosing a painfully obvious password; do not write or attach password materials to the laptop nor use maker provided numbers, logs or stickers as a password. The thief would have time to read these and the first few attempts need to be very frustrating.