Office security issue and how to deal with it..

[paulburrows15]

I've recently moved my operations from my inside my household to an outbuilding i've converted into a little office (at my parents).

The outbuilding is not connected to the house however it is very nearby (20 meters)

The chances of a break-in are slim however i can't help but be concerned.

I want to know if my iMac is stolen, although the user accounts are password protected can the hard drive be hacked into? I currently have a spreadsheet located in the "shared" folder which contains all usernames/passwords of my stealth accounts.

I'm considering putting all the stealth information onto an external hard drive which I will take to and from the office each day. That way, worst case is if there is a break in i lose the iMac and nothing else.

Do you have any suggestions on what you would do? Or am I being too paranoid.

Thanks in advance.

[JamesNorth101]

Encrypt the entire hard drive if you want to be sure.

Truecrypt may do something for for Mac

[paulburrows15]

If I encrypt the entire hard drive will it then be completely bulletproof?
Would firevault do the job?

Thanks for the swift reply James.

[JamesNorth101]

Nothing is ever 100% bullet proof... Really depends on who is trying to get into the hard drive.

I have never used firevault. Worth looking at reviews

[paulburrows15]

Ok James thank you for your help. I'll look into it!

[rsot]

And always backup your data - I regularly keep copies on USB drives

[jjohnson777]

Why not take tower with you daily if that worried? Yes it be pain to do but worth it if that worried.

[123]

When I'm on business trips and need to bring my laptop I don't put any of my stealth data onto my laptop instead I keep it in multiple encrypted flash drive that are password protected as well

[MountainMan]

Your best bet is to use software like True Crypt to give it a strong encryption that will be very hard to break into.

For windows laptops and pc's even if the user accounts are password protected there are many ways for someone to remove the password of the laptop/pc account using software like this "http://pogostick.net/~pnh/ntpasswd/" if the person has access to the physical device; however you're using a mac so you don't have to worry about this.