Chutzpah, derived from the Yiddish, is the quality of audacity for good or for bad.  For the bad in the case at hand. And "case" it is. Someone stole 3 laptops from the London Metropolitan Police with payroll and pension data on 15,000 Met police officers. And if it could happen to Scotland Yard, one of the world’s preeminent law enforcement agencies, it could also happen to your retirement plan’s data.

I covered this problem several months ago, and it bears repeating, It’s 10:00 in the evening. Do you know where your 401(k) plan is? I included a link to Tom Fragala’s article on his Truston Identity Theft Blog on Top 10 Ways To Protect Yourself From Laptop Theft. Here they are in brief:

  1. Lock it.
  2. Be careful at home.
  3. Hide it.
  4. Don’t leave it unattended.
  5. Password protect it.
  6. Make it easy to return.
  7. Personalize it.
  8. Write down your computer info.
  9. Back up your data.
  10. Protect your backups.
  11. Bonus tip 1. Install laptop trace software.
  12. Bonus tip 2. Install remote locking software.

Here is the link again to Tom’ s article which has the details.