Laptop (notebook): what it is and how it is attacked
A portable computer that leaves the building.
Also known as
- notebook
- mobile workstation
Typing any of them into the editor finds this object.
Why it matters on a security diagram
It spends time on networks you do not control, then comes back and reconnects to yours.
How it gets attacked, and what reduces it
How it gets attacked
- Theft, where the disk was never encrypted
- Connections made on untrusted public networks
What reduces it
- Encrypt the disk and require shutdown or hibernate rather than sleep, so a stolen machine is a loss of hardware rather than of data
- Assume public networks are hostile and require the remote access gateway for anything internal
Where it sits
- Group
- Endpoints and devices · The things people and processes touch directly.
- Whose side, by default
- Ours · Belongs to the organisation the diagram is about.
- Catalogue identifier
- laptop
Reviewed . CC BY 4.0.
Others in endpoints and devices
- Desktop computerworkstation · PC · desktopA computer somebody sits at to do their job.
- Mobile phonesmartphone · mobile · handsetA pocket computer that reads company email.
- PrinterMFP · multifunction device · copierPrints, scans and often emails documents.
- Smart deviceIoT · internet of things · connected device · camera · CCTV · IP camera · security camera · sensor · door lock · smart TVEveryday equipment with a network connection: cameras, sensors, door locks, TVs.
- Plant equipmentOT · ICS · SCADA · operational technologyMachinery that runs a physical process: a pump, a valve, a production line.
- Machine controllerPLC · RTU · programmable logic controllerThe small computer that tells a piece of machinery what to do.
- Door access readercard reader · badge reader · access controlReads a badge to unlock a door.
The endpoints and devices group lists all 8 of them side by side.
Laptop on your own diagram
Open the editor, press N, and type notebook. The object is placed and connected to whatever was selected, and Tab adds the next one already joined to it. Nothing is uploaded: the page is served with a Content Security Policy that forbids the browser from making any outbound request at all.
Open the diagram maker