Take our user survey and make your voice heard.
Politicians and bureaucrats who routinely leave our private data in laptops on trains just got a sweet little get-out when Fujitsu announced a seemingly foolproof system for letting them off the hook. It involves building a wireless card developed with Willcom into new laptops and hooking it up to a hard-drive encryption system. As the card keeps the laptop on Willcom’s PHS phone network at all times (even when the computer is off), it’s then a simple matter of sending a kill signal to any lost PC to destroy the encryption key.
The resulting useless computer can then be freely sold on eBay without the risk of pesky data leaks. Nice. (J Mark Lytle/Metropolis)
© Japan Today
11 Comments
Login to comment
bokudayo
um... unplug the wireless card after stealing or finding the computer, eh? Sounds like politicians will become more lax with their computers because of this "safety feature" and we'll see more data leaked.
kyoken
...so selling stolen computer on eBay becomes legal.
Seriously, as this solution requires hard-disk encryption, there is no need for this solution. Subsequent, it becomes marketing ...
jmcalli
This system relies on the laptop owner knowing that his laptop is stolen. If the thief disables the PHS phone network on the laptop before the owner realizes the laptop is stolen, it won't work.
Also, how well does the PHS wireless card work? If the laptop could be shielded from the signal or physically removed from the local transmission area, the kill switch wouldn't work.
PepinGalarga
I assume the laptop needs the signal to work. Once the kill switch is trigerred the computer will not work, with or without a signal. If this is the case, then areas with no signal the laptop may not work then...
Its relatively hard core for these people to advocate selling stolen laptops on ebay though.
electric2004
Let's see it another way round:
Make a special call by phone to this card, and the computer is rendered useless, while the politician sitting in front of it will wonder, why his favorite AV movie has stopped.
electric2004
By the way, some clever server administrators have used a comparable idea years ago: Using a pager, and connecting the output to the reset of a server. In case the server has crashed and is not reachable via network, it can easily reset by making the right phone call (plus secret code).
DeepAir65
as kyoken said - marketing
The only sure way is to attach a high power magnet to the hard disk in my opinion. Some bright spark always finds a way round other methods
Informed
Hmm.. will future laptops/PCs sold to the public have a similar kill-switch? That can be activated by the U.S. government perhaps? This technology could also be used to erase the drives of those that disagree with you.
electric2004
Imagine the fun if someone in the office confuses the serial numbers of the laptop lost and the one his colleague is working with.
Bento
those who can't manage to keep a laptop safe should certainly not be trusted with running the country..lose your laptop..lose your job.
electric2004
DeepAir65:
This thing happened in the movable trays of the German Intercity. They had a magnet in the tray to keep it in locked position. Now, if you put a lap-top on, and the hard-disk spins while over the magnet, there was a good chance that the data was deleted.