“This laptop will self destruct in ten seconds!”
Imagine if this is what the lowlife who nicked your laptop were to hear as he or she made their getaway with your hardware. Actually, you don’t need to imagine it now. For a software company has come up with the ultimate Mission Impossible security system to protect sensitive data.
Unfortunately perhaps, this solution doesn’t involve smoke and an almighty explosion, except in a digital sense. Using a variety of means including GSM, WiFi and RFID, Virtuity’s BackStopp OpenCentral software sends a signal to the laptop to wipe the hard drive when the computer leaves a predefined safe zone.
Accidental loss of data is avoided by Backstopp OpenCentral integrating encryption and backup functions should a machine be accidentally moved outwith its preset boundaries. The software means that a single system can control data encryption and initiate data destruction whilst ensuring valuable data is backed up and not lost.
A number of lines of defence are utilised. Firstly, when using Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), the software intervenes to remove sensitive data when the laptop is moved from its allowed zone. In addition, when an owner reports their missing laptop to the control centre, or the control centre concludes that the machine is “at risk”, the system seeks out the laptop’s digital beacon and sends the ‘self destruct’ message.
Meanwhile the software on the laptop can also activate any in-built webcam to take a series of photographs to help with identification of the culprit, uploading the images as soon as any network becomes available. The system is completely invisible to the thief.
Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to secure all sensitive data for commercial and legal reasons.
