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IBM Adds Anti-Theft Tech to ThinkPad

By Ed Oswald, BetaNews

February 1, 2005, 11:02 AM

IBM announced Tuesday that it will be incorporating remote anti-theft functionality in its ThinkPad notebook computers, starting with the T series. Created by Vancouver-based Absolute Technologies, the technology is embedded in the BIOS of computers to prevent data theft and assist in recovery.

Absolute's technology works as a subscription service and would allow the computer owner to find where an owned laptop is connected to the Internet, as well as delete sensitive information remotely to prevent data theft.

"Greater emphasis is being placed on the security and protection of remote and mobile computing assets that contain sensitive and confidential information," John Livingston, Absolute Software CEO said in a statement.

"This is a key milestone for Absolute in driving the industry standard for PC Theft Recovery and Secure Asset Tracking services."

IBM ThinkPads will come enabled for the anti-theft service. In order to make use of the feature, customers will need to purchase a subscription to Absolute's Computrace service from Absolute or IBM, and must contact Absolute to activate it.

Add a Comment (2 Comments)

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By Scary Guy

posted Feb 1, 2005 - 5:31 PM

They could have done this years ago with the processor serial numbers they had on those. Although upgrading the processor would dissable it so I can see how it would work better in the BIOS. But once again this brings up privacy issues as well. Do a search for www.bigbrotherinside.com on archive.org

I see advantages and disadvantages. Give me a nice thumbprint scanner and an encryption card. Who cares about if the laptop gets stolen, it's the data on it that's important.

Score: 0

By FubarJeb

posted Feb 1, 2005 - 7:24 PM

Unless your sensitive files are encrypted by your card, a thumbprint scanner and encryption card wont do your data any good when they pop out the harddrive and hook it up to another computer.

Score: 0

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