Lock your device.
"I'll only be a minute" is the longest minute in cyber. An unlocked screen is an open door — to your inbox, your files, your saved logins, and everything someone could do with them. Locking takes two seconds. The downside of not locking can take months to recover from.
Two seconds. Either keyboard shortcut. Every time you walk away.
An unlocked device is everything an attacker would want — already logged in.
Modern cyber security spends huge effort protecting passwords, MFA codes, and conditional access. An unlocked screen quietly bypasses all of it. The fix is the simplest one in the entire Digital Seatbelts system — and the easiest one to forget.
Moments people forget to lock
- Quick coffee or kitchen run
- "Just popping to the loo" — the most common one of all
- Stepping out to take a phone call
- Working in a co-working space, café, or hotel lobby
- Leaving a laptop unattended at a client site or partner office
- End of the day, while finishing one last conversation
The fix is muscle memory
- Windows: Win + L (one hand, no thinking)
- macOS: Ctrl + Cmd + Q (the same idea, two seconds)
- Set your screen to auto-lock after 5–10 minutes of idle time
- If you've left your laptop somewhere, lock it remotely via Intune or Find My Device
- Treat shared spaces (cafés, trains, hot desks) as enemy territory
- Make it a team norm — the more people lock, the more it spreads
Locking isn't just about strangers — it's about clean accountability too.
If something goes wrong on a logged-in account, the audit log says it was you. Locking protects your reputation as much as your data. It's also a small, visible signal to colleagues that security matters here — and that ripples outward in ways spreadsheets never quite capture.
Recap the other seatbelts
Book a free 15-minute cyber chat.
No sales pitch, no jargon. We can take a quick look at your auto-lock settings, your Intune policies, and the easy wins your team can pick up tomorrow morning.