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Laptop Security Blog Absolute Software created a new video about its corporate products and services. The video gives you an overview of mobile computing and security, and how Absolute Software fits into your IT planning. It gives you insight into the recovery team and how Computrace gives you control over your IT assets.
In the time it took to watch that video, 3 laptops were stolen. Do you know where all your laptops are?
Ken Colburn (aka the Data Doctor) was on CNN a couple of weeks ago to give some simple advice on protecting your sensitive information if your computer is stolen. The most common mistakes people make that put data at risk on lost laptops, according to Ken, are: not set a password on the computer, auto-saving username and passwords, and leaving sensitive information unprotected by alternate passwords or encryption.
As you can see from the video below, Ken goes on to recommend software than can help make your computer more secure and/or recover it. He recommends LoJack for Laptops / Computrace, as well as other programs listed here.
Thanks Ken for the great coverage!
Also in the news: Microsoft will stop selling its Windows Live OneCare consumer security service and will re-release it as a free download by the end of 2009. They hope this will mean less malware. Speaking of malware, a new trojan came up a couple days ago that can send both Mac & PC users, even with patched software, to impostor websites. Ouch!
Although the business world has been primarily PC-oriented for a number of years, Absolute Software has not forgotten the many Mac users out there (like me!). Both Computrace, the corporate product line, and LoJack for Laptops, the consumer product line, are available for both Mac & PC.
A recent article on Dark Reading talks about the widespread use of Computrace for PCs, but the article implies that Computrace would not work on a Mac. The scenario Rob Enderle writes about on DR is about how to secure Barack Obama’s computer, if he chooses to use a Mac. After recommending Computrace for PCs, Enderle tries to come up with an alternative for the Mac, but ends up with something that “isn’t as comprehensive as Absolute.” Thankfully, we can simply recommend the Mac version of Computrace! Computrace works on Mac OSX 10.3, 10.4 and 10.5.
After the install of the Computrace product, the customer uses Absolute via a secure web-based Customer Center. PC and Mac users, therefore, have the same experience. The only exception being that the Mac does not support the recently released GPS tracking feature in Computrace.
Some computers, currently only PCs, come with Computrace at the BIOS level as well. Perhaps this is where the Dark Reading confusion came in. But regardless, if you want to protect and recover your computer – PC or Mac – then Absolute Software has a product just right for you!
Learn more about Computrace here and LoJack for Laptops here.
Absolute Software announced today that its Computrace product will be built into the hardware level of select Lenovo ThinkPad T400 notebooks, the first notebooks to ship with support for Intel’s Anti-Theft PC Protection and Computrace built right in. The new products will be available starting in December.
Select Lenovo ThinkPad T400 notebook computers will ship with the Absolute Computrace and Intel Anti-Theft PC Protection “ready”, needing only to be activated by companies’ IT departments. The Anti-Theft PC Protection extends the capabilities of Computrace. For example, if a computer does not “check in” with the Absolute Monitoring Center within a specified time period, the notebook can automatically lock down. That would make it unusable, unless unlocked by an authorized user. Additionally, if a notebook is lost or stolen, data can be deleted remotely and the lock down can happen automatically when the computer “checks in”.
“Absolute is excited to work with industry leaders to further drive anti-theft technologies into the marketplace – ensuring that joint Absolute, Intel and Lenovo customers have a secure computing experience,” – John Livingston, CEO of Absolute Software.
Computrace was previously made available in Lenovo ThinkPad T43 notebooks at the BIOS level, so that the security services could not be removed by simply reformatting or replacing the hard drive.
Continue reading the press release here.
Absolute Software dropped some big news today! Absolute has begun a closed beta of extending Computrace Mobile to the BlackBerry platform! It is estimated that Computrace Mobile will be generally available to corporate customers in the first quarter of 2009.
Computrace Mobile will deliver asset management, data protection and geolocation tracking, features of the Computrace protection package for laptop computers, to the BlackBerry.
“We will be able to offer our customers a single system for managing and securing their Windows and Mac laptops and desktops, Windows Mobile devices and now BlackBerry smartphones… This solution will provide them with the visibility and protection they need to reduce operational costs and losses due to theft and inefficient allocation.” – John Livingston, president and CEO of Absolute Software.
We’re quite excited about the news, and hope you are too! Although the beta is closed at the moment, if you’re a journalist interested in doing a review, contact Absolute for a private demo. Continue reading the press release here.
Computrace Mobile currently is supported on all Windows Mobile 5 and 6 handheld devices including the HP iPAQ, HTC Touch, MOTO Q, Samsung BlackJack and Treo 750.
Although we’ve talked many times about the security issues around employees working remotely from home or while abroad, we haven’t specifically touched on the issues that the self-employed face when working at home.
We talk many times about the importance of keeping private or sensitive information on the corporate network, accessed remotely, but not stored on mobile devices. At home, this is more of a challenge because that data is in your home, on your home computers. One must consider physical data storage (bank information, tax returns, receipts, etc), as well as protecting the data you store on your desktop or laptop computers.
Basic data security tips:
Absolute Software’s Computrace LoJack for Laptops comes with 2 editions, Premium and Standard, allowing you to protect all the computers in your home office. The Premium edition comes with the advanced capabilities to not just help recover lost laptops, but to remotely delete sensitive data.
The FTC also has out a guide for businesses wanting to protect personal information. This guide is geared to businesses of all sizes, but is particularly useful for the small business owner. If you are in the business of dealing with a lot of sensitive information, consider that there may be more advanced solutions to storing data off-premises, via a secure business network solution and even physical data storage.
Other articles on the blog you may find interesting:
Absolute Software, as computer recovery specialist, can often spot trends in computer thefts from the number of reported threats to its Theft Recover Team. In a press release last week, Absolute notes that the number of computer thefts has increased during (or perhaps the result of) the recent economic downturn.
“We are seeing a rapid increase in the number of computer thefts reported to our Theft Recovery Team.” – John Livingston, Chairman and CEO of Absolute.
Although some of the growth in the figures can be attributed to more Absolute customers, the team believes some of this is due to the current economic situation. With theft on the rise, there is undoubtedly going to be an increase in identity theft and data breaches.
Of course, with more laptop losses being reported to Absolute, there are more great success stories to share about Absolute’s recovery efforts. As part of the press release, several mini case studies of recent stolen computers were featured.
Absolute Software helps protect thousands of computers for consumers and businesses alike. Computrace helps businesses track computers, manage software, and recover lost computers. It adds a much needed layer of data protection that should be considered in these risky times.
*For complete details on $1000 Service Guarantee, see http://www.absolute.com/Service_Agreement.pdf
In addition to the Kent SD case study highlighted here last week, Absolute Software is profiling how a US Federal Government Agency uses Computrace to protect their assets.
In 2006, a Federal agency realized that its higher profile meant that they needed to increase existing data and computer security measures. Government regulations require that data breaches be reported with, and dealt with, quickly. With these two considerations in mind, the agency began a pilot project in 2007 with 3,500 computers. After the success of the pilot project, they purchased 30,000 licenses of Computrace to protect their entire laptop population.
The agency can now inventory computers in the field, report on installed software, and delete classified data if computers go missing. For more information about Computrace, read here.
For more case studies from Absolute Software, check out here.
The latest Absolute Software case study involves the education sector. In specific, how the Kent School District in Washington use Computrace to inventory computers and crack down on theft.
Kent School District began introducing notebook computers into its programs back in 1998 – schools with access to mobile technologies and new instructional strategies have performed very well in the district. With laptops spread across the district’s 40 buildings, there were a number of IT challenges in keeping track of those assets. After beta testing Computrace on 90 tablet PCs, Kent SD has now implemented the system across its entire 12,000+ notebook and desktop population.
Before Computrace, Kent SD would assign 10 people to do an inventory check – a process that took 3 months out of every year. Now, Kent SD can run a 5 minute report from Computrace and know where all of the 12,000+ computers are.
Computrace is more than just a theft deterrence product, but with a district of this size, theft was also a consideration in choosing the service from Absolute. After thieves broke into a school facility and stole 30 computers, Computrace was used to track the computers back to the thieves, who are now facing charges. In another theft situation, the remote data delete was used to ensure sensitive information would not breach.
To read more about Kent SD’s IT challenges, and their solutions, check out the full case study here.
For more case studies from Absolute Software, check out here.
Some great news from Absolute Software – The ASUS B50 line of business notebooks will now provided embedded support for Absolute’s anti-theft and management solution, Computrace.
ASUS is one of the world’s top 10 notebook manufacturers, with the B50 taking into consideration the needs of mobile business executives. The B50 features an integrated biometric fingerprint scanner, Trusted Platform Module for secure login and encryption, and now embedded Computrace support. You can read more about this news here.
This means that all the great features of Computrace are embedded at the firmware level, not the software level. When consumers activate the service, Absolute can provide a level of security and recovery capabilities at a higher level.
Embedding support for the Computrace agent into the BIOS provides customers the highest level of persistence and allows the Computrace agent to survive operating system re-installations, hard drive reformats and even hard drive replacements. That means anyone trying to remove the security features to get at your data is going to have a much harder time.
For a full list of computers with embedded support for Computrace (Dell, Fujitsu, etc), check here.
Also in company news, Absolute will showcased it’s laptop security solutions at the Intel Developer Forum (IDF) in Taipei on October 20-21. For more information, read here.