New Laptop Chip Wipes Data Upon Theft

Losing a laptop is expensive, but as we all know, sometimes the data on it is virtually priceless. And if it happens to fall into the hands of a competitor or an info-vendor open to the highest bid, you’re screwed. Of course, there’s also the chance of losing a laptop out of carelessness.

Courtesy of Fujitsu

So here comes Fujitsu announcing their new, “always-on” security chip laptop technology last Thursday. As Fujitsu is known for their enterprise-class security features, this new development is an extension of their hard drive encryption.

Once the owner reports the laptop as stolen (by apparently contacting the security or service or even sending out a command through a cell phone) the chip will delete the key needed to decrypt the data. This makes it practically impossible to access the data.

What if the thief immediately removes the battery, a common way to defeat laptop anti-theft systems? Fujitsu reports that the chip continually “listens” for a lock down command, immediately implementing it next time the laptop powers on. And I’m assuming that removing the chip from the laptop would still prevent access to the data, since it stores decryption key.

Of course, no security system is perfect. But Fujitsu’s approach sounds pretty airtight. Unless of course, it’s possible to keep the chip from receiving the (wirelessly-delivered) lock down signal. Yet all these potential countermeasures sure sound like a lot of trouble for a thief to go through.

Source: Tom’s Hardware