Which of the following BEST reduces the risk associated with the theft of a laptop containing sensitive information?

A cable lock prevents physical theft of the laptop itself but offers no protection for the data if the lock is bypassed or the laptop is stolen despite the lock.

Data encryption, specifically full disk encryption or file-level encryption, protects the confidentiality of sensitive information stored on a laptop. If the laptop is stolen, the encrypted data remains unreadable and unusable to the thief without the decryption key, thus significantly reducing the risk of sensitive data loss and exposure.

Periodic backup protects against data loss due to device failure or complete theft, allowing data recovery, but it does not prevent the sensitive data on the stolen laptop from being accessed by the thief.

Biometrics access control protects against unauthorized login to the laptop but does not protect the data on the disk if the disk is removed and accessed directly, or if the system is booted from external media.