Lenovo announces remote laptop security feature

Source: Exec Digital USA

Date :11/26/2008 1:28:31 AM

PC maker Lenovo has announced a Remote Disable Feature which allows users to shut down and freeze a PC by text message.

The ‘Kill Command’, or Constant Secure Remote Disable, will hit the market in the first half of 2009 on some ThinkPad model notebooks. Users can connect their laptop via WAN to as many as 10 cellphones which can all execute commands remotely.

“There were a couple of our clients that were looking for encryption type capabilities, especially for mobile users,” said President of SMB Security Consulting of Joe Seaman. “Initially they were looking at full hard drive encryption, but being able to 'phone home' and having it built within the OS would be a much cleaner solution.”

The feature is expected to be taken up very quickly by small to medium-sized businesses, especially. ""Without this, there's a much higher risk as far as the potential for intentional or unintentional data leakage goes,” said Product Manager for Security Stacy Cannady. “At least from my clients, they've moved beyond price comparison, because they've all been burnt by that philosophy. It goes further down into the purchase process.”