Hey A-Christian,
Not really much of a problem with the upper Executives, we saw more of an attitude with the upper level managers. To help with our laptop security, we had a corporate VPN solution that included a corporate managed version of BlackIce and made our VPN software dependent upon it (not much like the personal version of B.I.) and our VPN was set to disconnect from whatever network they were connected to if the routing tables were altered in any way. (denoting a possible security breech).
As far as flash drives, it was corporate policy to encrypt all flash drives that were used to store or transport company documents. In addition, documents that were deemed corporate secret were forbidden to be stored on a users hard drive, let alone a flash drive.
By the time our systems evolved into what it is today, it's almost transparent to the users. But getting there, and what goes on behind the scenes is a whole different subject. That being said, if one's on a personal laptop using a public hot spot, I'd take Vic's advice and just do some simple browsing and posting, and not much more.