Thumbs up for Intel's new remote kill technology

Origin Storage gives thumbs up to Intel's new remote kill technology

Basingstoke, UK: Intel's new Anti-Theft (AT) technology for computers, which allows for companies to give a remote command to a laptop PC to disable access to the computer's operating system or, where appropriate, disabling the encryption key system, has been given a big welcome by Origin Storage.

"The points raised by Duncan Mee, the director of WinMagic over the weekend, in a podcast with security analyst Ben Chai (http://bit.ly/bdZ3T4), in which he explains that the Intel AT technology can auto-disable the laptop if it does not `call home' every 30 days, is a very powerful feature," said Andy Cordial, managing director with the storage systems integration specialist.

"What this means is that laptops will start to cease to be such an attractive target for thieves, who will effectively be left with a high-tech doorstop on their hands when the AT system is triggered, either remotely, or the laptop fails to call home within the required period," he added.

According to the Origin Systems MD, the WinMagic solution is a powerful proposition and one that Origin bundles with its self-install encrypted drive kits for laptops, which were launched at the Infosecurity Europe show earlier this year (http://bit.ly/bHAMjq).

The key to the WinMagic solution, says Cordial, is that it operates at the BIOS level, making it both efficient and robust, and means that the encryption and decryption technology is transparent to the end user of the laptop.

And this approach, he explains, is what makes the Intel AT technology - as WinMagic's director says - such an equally powerful proposition, since it means the attractiveness of laptops will steadily decrease as more and more notebook PCs have the technology installed at their heart.

Of course, Cordial says, it will take time for today's laptops - many of which do not feature whole disk encryption (WDE) - to reach the end of their working lifetime, and during this period, companies would do well to consider Origin's self-install WDE kits as a data security option.

"As Duncan at WinMagic says, Intel's AT technology gives companies a much more powerful method of controlling access to a remote laptop and, of course, the machine does not need to be connected to the Internet for the technology to be triggered on a time-out basis," he said.

"It's still early days for the technology, however, but it's a powerful proposition and that's why we give a definite thumbs-up to what we expect will become a standard feature on the next generation of computers," he added.

For more on Intel's AT technology: http://www.intel.com/technology/anti-theft

For more on Origin Storage: www.originstorage.com

Source: Eskenzi PR