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Friday 12 Dec 2008, 12:01am
AMT anti-theft tech delivers “poison pill” to stolen laptops
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Lenovo has launched laptops which are a lot harder to steal, and the technology is powered by Intel's vPro.
The Lenovo ThinkPad T400, launched in early December, is the first to use Intel's Anti-Theft PC Protection, according to eWeek.
The laptops include a variety of features including a "poison pill" to disable a laptop that has been reported stolen. Intel announced the Anti-Theft feature in April, but Lenovo is the first to deliver it.
The laptop has Absolute Software's Computrace software in its firmware and this works with vPro technology in the laptop to track the device. If the laptop remains disconnected from corporate servers for too long, or if there are too many failed log-in attempts, the software can be triggered by policy. This can disable the machine and wipe or encrypt the hard drive.
The “poison pill” is reversible - when the laptop is returned the IT department can restart it and decrypt the hard drive with a special password.
"Security has been something that has been talked about, but we have not seen the rubber hit the road," said IDC analyst Richard Shim. "Now, we are starting to see these new technologies come out that enable security features such as restricting access to a notebook if it has been lost or stolen, encryption to prevent access to this information or in some cases just destroying the data on the system."
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