A superintendent calls in: the laptop was in the truck, the truck got broken into, and now the laptop is gone. It has job files, email, and probably some saved passwords. What happens next depends almost entirely on one thing: whether that laptop was managed before it disappeared.
With management in place
If the device was encrypted and enrolled in device management, this is a bad afternoon, not a crisis. The data on the drive is unreadable without the login. You remotely lock or wipe the device. You force a password reset and rely on MFA to keep the account safe even though a password may have been saved. Because you can show the device was encrypted and wiped, many breach-notification obligations may not be triggered (the rules vary by state), which matters for your cyber insurance and for any GC or client contract that requires notification. A replacement is re-provisioned to the same configuration and the superintendent is working again quickly.
Without management
If the laptop wasn't encrypted or managed, you're now guessing what was on it, whether anyone can read it, and whether you're obligated to notify clients, a general contractor, or your insurer. That uncertainty is the actual damage: the cost of a laptop is trivial next to the cost of a possible breach you can't rule out, the downtime, and the scramble to rebuild what was only on that machine.
The short version of the checklist
- Remotely lock or wipe the device.
- Reset the user's password; confirm MFA is intact.
- Revoke active Microsoft 365 sessions so a saved login can't be reused.
- Check for suspicious mailbox rules or sign-ins.
- Confirm encryption status for your records.
- Document the incident: what was lost, when, and the steps taken, in case a client, GC, or insurer needs it.
- Re-provision a replacement from the standard configuration.
Every step above assumes the groundwork (encryption, MDM, MFA) was done in advance. That's the whole argument for managing field devices before anything goes missing.
Part of our guide to IT for construction and trades companies in Northern Virginia. See how Sentry supports construction and trades, or book a free assessment.