Reddit reviews Kensington Security Slot Adapter Kit - System

I attend quakecon every year. It is a huge PC gaming convention where over 5000 people bring their usually $1000+ setups with them to play in a huge hall for 3-4 days continuously. Somehow, throughout that entire event, with little more than 2 security guards at the door at any given time and a clever little tagging system, there are often zero reported hardware thefts. Every time you leave, your bag is looked through and if something in your bag doesn't match something you checked in with, it is assumed stolen and you are arrested/questioned, especially if the item has someone else's barcode on it. That is an event with THOUSANDS of people attending, lasting multiple days, 24 hours a day and nothing gets stolen. How APEX manages to get $2500 worth of stuff stolen just seems unreal.

Before you even worry about keeping other peoples stuff from being stolen, spray paint "APEX" in huge letters on both major sides of every wii, on the tops of gamecubes, etc. Hire a security guy to stand at the door and check bags and make it clear that anyone found with an APEX branded piece of equipment WILL be arrested. You could probably even lay down some simple rules like "No outside consoles, laptops or tablets allowed in the hall" just so you know anyone leaving with this type of item will be much more obvious. Put the APEX brand HUGE on everything whether that be with paint or anti-theft stickers(these are basically stickers that are very hard to remove without leaving obvious residue). Put kensington locks on your ipads. Any valuable electronic should generally have Kensington lock holes. USE THEM. As for the cell phones, they shouldn't even BE in a position to be stolen. If you are leaving a cell phone out on a table or in an unattended bag, it is going to get stolen. Just keep it on your person. I don't know what "equipment used to run the tournament" entails but I assume that means "a laptop"... Which should have been K-locked to the table. Shit, you can buy a kensington lock kit so you can put the locks on anything (especially consoles like the wii that don't have a lock slot).

Hardware theft is no joke and it sucks that it happens but I have a hard time feeling bad when it sounds like simple steps weren't taken to prevent theft. Security is a bit of an investment but its way better than having to rebuy equipment. I bet every single piece of valuable equipment could have been secured for less than $2500, even the stuff that WASN'T stolen.

For players volunteering their systems, having Kensington lock adapters applied to each switch with a venue to provide the cable locks would be ideal. Certainly what I will propose to our venues.