An employee, Joe, forgot his laptop at the airport. Joe is worried about unauthorized access. Which of the following BEST protects against data theft in this instance?

Security software primarily protects against malware and network-based threats when the system is running, but it cannot prevent data theft if the drive is removed or accessed offline.

Full disk encryption encrypts all data on the hard drive, rendering it unreadable to anyone who does not possess the correct decryption key, even if the drive is removed from the laptop. This is the best defense against data theft from a physically lost device.

A cable lock physically secures the laptop to an immovable object, preventing its theft, but it does not protect the data if the device is stolen because it was not locked.

A username and password protect against casual access to the operating system, but they can often be bypassed by removing the drive or booting from external media, allowing access to the unencrypted data.

Patching the OS and third-party software addresses vulnerabilities and improves overall system security, but it does not directly protect data on a lost or stolen device from physical extraction without encryption.