This laptop will self-destruct in ten seconds
By Davey Winder in Editorial
Posted in Data Protection, Blog, Security on
You might think, given some of the recent high profile losses of laptops and their data, that protecting commercially sensitive information is something of a mission impossible. Well according to Virtuity, a British company from Sheffield, it has the answer in an intelligent security technology called Backstopp which uses WiFi, GSM and RFID to keep tabs on your hardware and the data it contains. The clever bit, of course, is that if your laptop moves out of the area range where it is meant to be your data can self-destruct.
Now I know what you are thinking, why bother when you can simply encrypt your data and prevent anyone from getting access to it that way if you are unlucky or stupid enough to misplace the lappy. To be honest, I was thinking that as well. But Virtuity insists that its product is not meant to replace encryption, but compliment it: go beyond it even. “Even if encryption tools are deployed” the company website declares, then you cannot be “absolutely sure that the user followed the encryption protocols or that the thief is not determined or capable enough of cracking the code.” True, you cannot be 100% certain, but if you have the proper security policies in place, backed up by the proper auditing and the appropriate strength of encryption then you can be 99.9999999% sure I would imagine. Virtuity has the answer to that as well putting forward the argument of “Do you encrypt everything? Have you encrypted your email? How about cookies which provide access to your hosted email or sales tools such as Gmail or Salesforce.com? Could the thief access your internal network via a VPN connection from your machine?” OK, I give up, maybe encryption alone is not the answer, maybe you do need a little more. Something like common sense and an appropriate amount of staff security training perhaps?
I am not against the concept of a self-destructing laptop, in fact I rather like it. Especially when it is all done using the latest technologies such as this. Backstopp can use any wireless communication, most notably WiFi and GSM networks, to locate the laptop and RFID tags can be used to monitor its movements when switched off for a double whammy dose of i-know-where-you-are-itis. It is flexible enough to allow for movement to be restricted to a particular office, floor or building, as well as widening the field. Anywhere that a GSM mobile phone signal can travel is within reach of the self-destruct button.
Essentially it works by either the owner reporting the lappy as missing, or the Backstopp control centre deciding it is at risk because it has moved out of the pre-determined safety zone, to kick start the self-destruct signalling process. The data decommissioning, to be formal about things, does not rely upon the OS API but rather uses tried and tested file deletion patterns detailed in the US Department of Defence’s National Industrial Security Program Operating Manual (US DoD 5220-22.M) - it blows it up in a big time fashion in other words, and you ain’t getting that data back.
The James Bond nature of the beast is not yet done though, the software will also kick start any integrated webcam device to record photographs at timed intervals with a view to capturing an image of the thief for good measure, and this does not require the laptop to be recovered to be of use as it uploads the images invisibly (to the thief) across the network.
The best bit comes with the price, at just £10 per laptop per month it is not going to break the bank, just the balls of anyone trying to do a runner with your data.
Rated: 80% (2 votes)
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