The book "Laptop Security Short & Simple" is published by LIGATT Publishing (ISBN 0974561126), in other words self published by Gregory D. Evans. It did not enjoy the benefit of an editor or technical editor as evident by frequent misspellings and botched cut/paste clips from other sources. There are several portions of the book that stand out, as the repeated text and hastily interrupted text makes it clear that the author was using cut and paste, not writing his own material. This, along with a noted history of plagiarism, lead attrition.org staff to examine this book more carefully.
Our review is not entirely thorough. Most pages were spot checked for plagiarism, but once it was detected we moved to the next page or chapter. Our findings indicate at least 32% of this book has been plagiarized from a wide variety of public sources including books, online magazines and other sources. A more detailed review of the book may discover more material that was plagiarized.
The following table details the portions of the book that were taken from other sources, making up at least 32% of the material. Information is included so that anyone with a copy of the book can validate our findings that the author committed willful infringement of copyright and outright plagiarism.
| Pages / total | Description | Original Source |
| 5-12 | Introduction, 15 articles or quotes from news papers or surveys. Sources cited, but used verbatim. | The Register, USA Today, STL Today, AP, Mainichi Interactive, etc. |
| 18-19 | Introduction, 3 paragraphs on John Boyd and concluding paragraph | Secrets of Computer Espionage, by Joel McNamara |
| 28-34 | Chapter 2, Computer Theft Statistics, Charts from the 2001 CSI/FBI Security Survey | (physical copy in archive) Copyright The Computer Security Institute, All Rights Reserved |
| 35-36 | Chapter 2, Computer Theft Statistics, BSI Computer Theft Survey Results | Executive Summary: Key findings of the 2003 BSI Computer Theft Survey (C) Brigadoon Software, Inc. Book says for complete survey, go to www.pcphonehome.com (Evans' site, not Brigadoon's) |
| 55 | Chapter 7, Physical Security Devices, 2nd paragraph | Wireless Security by Merritt Maxim, David Pollino |
| 60-65 | Chapter 8, Surge Protection, FAQ and information on Surge Protectors | Lowe's Guide: Buying a Surge Protector |
| 67-68 | Chapter 9, Threatening Your Network, all 4 paragraphs (entire chapter) | Find Those Rogues by Leon Erlanger, PCWorld |
| 70 | Chapter 10, Wireless Security, 2nd/3rd/5th/6th paragraphs | Wireless Security by Merritt Maxim, David Pollino Note: 6th paragraph has obvious cut/paste mistake, as it was taken out of a larger paragraph. |
| 78 | Chapter 12, Password Protection, 6 Guidelines for choosing a password (3 of 6) | Complete Hacker's Handbook, Chapter 13 |
| 90 | Chapter 15, Personal Firewalls, 2nd/3rd paragraphs | Personal Firewalls for Administrators and Remote Users, by Lisa Yeo |
| 92-93 | Chapter 16, Viruses and Worms, 1st - 6th paragraphs | Computer Crime: A Crimefighter's Handbook, Chapter 2, by David Icove, Karl Seger & William VonStorch (O'Reilly) |
| 94 | Chapter 16, Anti-Virus Tools, first 3 sentences | Attack of the Clones, by Lea Goldman (Forbes) |
| 95-96 | Chapter 16, Anti-Virus Tools, "step-by-step look at how anti-virus software works" (5 paragraphs) | How Antivirus Software Works, by Dana Montey and Ned Day |
| 102 | Chapter 18, Internet Security, 'Cookies' (1 paragraph) | Building Internet Firewalls, by Elizabeth D. Zwicky, Simon Cooper, D. Brent Chapman |
| 106 | Chapter 19, Instant Messaging, 1st para (first half) | Alliance Course List - Instant Messaging |
| 106 | Chapter 19, Instant Messaging, 1st para (second half) | "H-P, AOL team on instant messenger", by Paul Davidson (USA Today) |
| 106-107 | Chapter 19, Instant Messaging, 5 paragraphs | "Viruses Target IM", by Liane Cassavoy |
| 110-114 | Chapter 20, Spyware and Adware, several sentences verbatim from multiple sources | "The courts have affirmed the company's right to.." "Companies have their choice of monitoring.." (PCMag) "According to a report from research firm Gartner.." (NZ Business) "The command line Attrib utility.." "Check for sudden.." (PCMag) |
| 137-139 | Chapter 28, Security Checklist, "company security checklist" | Computer Crime: A Crimefighter's Handbook, by David J. Icove, Karl A. Seger, William VonStorch (O'Reilly) |
| 146 | Chapter 29, Laptop Security Policies, 1st/2nd paragraph | Computer Security: Protecting Digital Resources, by Robert C. Newman |
| 149-150 | Chapter 29, Laptop Security Policies, Laptop Security Policy | Kensington Indonesia |
| 152-154 | Chapter 30, PDA Security, 7 paragraphs | "Simple Mobile Security for Paris Hilton!" by Lance Ulanoff (PCMag) |
| 154-158 | Chapter 30, PDA Security, 15 paragraphs | "PDA Security 101" by Laura Taylor (Intranet Journal) |
| 160 | Chapter 31, Conclusion, 4/8 bullets | "It's 10:00 PM: Do You Know Where Your Laptop Is?" |
| Total Pages with Plagiarised Content |
| ~ 57 / 179 (32%) |