Lenovo security feature leaves notebooks inoperable after receiving a special text message
It's no fun having something that belongs to you stolen. When it's your notebook computer, things can be even worse if you have confidential personal or business information stored on the notebook. Criminals can gain access to things like tax returns and have all the information they need to steal your identity.
Many people encrypt the data on their computer to prevent this sort of problem from happening, but Lenovo has a different method of protecting the computer it will be offering to customers next year. The feature is called the Lenovo Constant Secure Remote Disable feature and works with notebooks that are WWAN equipped. With the feature notebook owners can send a simple text message to the notebook that will render the machine inoperable to unauthorized users.
The technology behind the feature came from work between Lenovo and Phoenix Technologies. Starting in Q1 2009 the feature will be available on select notebooks. In the event that a notebook is lost or stolen owners send a text message with a command "lockdown PC now" or "PC shut off."
If the shut off command is sent, the machine will turn off and when the thief tries to turn the machine back on it will lockdown automatically. A text confirmation is sent back to the user when the shutdown or lock is executed.
If the notebook is recovered users can unlock it with a pre-set pass code entered when the notebook starts up.
Lenovo's Bob Galush said, "Remote Disable dramatically reduces the anxiety and waiting people often experience when they've been the victim of a lost or stolen notebook PC. Through our work with Phoenix, we are able to reduce customers' security risks and potential exposure of their confidential data when their ThinkPad notebook is lost or stolen. Combined with features like built-in biometric fingerprint readers, full hard drive encryption and embedded security chips, Lenovo ThinkPad notebooks offer the latest industry-leading PC security technologies."
Lenovo says that the Remote Disable service will be included in the price of notebooks at no additional charge and will be available on mobile broadband equipped ThinkPad notebooks. The system will operate in areas where cellular phone GSM signals are supported and SMS text messages can be sent.
There is no word from Lenovo on whether the data on the notebooks hard drive would be accessible if the hard drive was removed from the machine. For the best safety, something like a full disk encryption hard drive would be ideal with Lenovo's remote kill feature.
Frequent air travelers will also find the new Lenovo feature appealing considering over 600,000 notebooks are lost in airports each year and many of them are never claimed. A study conducted this summer revealed that out of the notebooks lost in airports each year, 65% of them were never reclaimed.
