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    Lenovo Lets You Disable Your Stolen Laptop With a Stern Text Message

    Discussion in 'Lenovo' started by BinkNR, Nov 25, 2008.

  1. BinkNR

    BinkNR Knock off all that evil

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    For those of you who have one of the newer Lenovos with a WWAN card, I thought you might find this news of interest…

    Foil laptop thieves with a text message

    “If a laptop is stolen, the phone that's paired with it can send a text message instantly with some predetermined message, like "Shut down computer" or "At my signal, unleash hell." Whatever you want, really. The computer will shut down, and from there the self-encrypting hard drive will take over to lock down the computer's data.”

    More at http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10106838-1.html...
     
    BinkNR, Nov 25, 2008
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  2. panteedropper

    panteedropper Notebook Deity

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    I read this earlier today on the reuters site. Its an excellent idea! I wonder if there will be a monthly/yearly subscription for this type of ability.
     
    panteedropper, Nov 25, 2008
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  3. BinkNR

    BinkNR Knock off all that evil

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    Hopefully not—this is actually fairly simple to implement. The only monthly fee you should incur is that which you pay/already pay to you WWAN carrier.
     
    BinkNR, Nov 25, 2008
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  4. Longwalker

    Longwalker Notebook Guru

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    I wonder how well this will work if thieves take out the SIM or WWAN cards immediately after the theft. Unless Lenovo has been very creative, even pulling the main battery and leaving the laptop without power until after the WWAN card can be removed ought to defeat this gimmick.
     
    Longwalker, Nov 25, 2008
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  5. BinkNR

    BinkNR Knock off all that evil

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    Not all thieves are that bright. Then again, one of the immutable laws of computer security is “if a bad guy has unrestricted physical access to your computer, it's not your computer anymore.” So this measure is nothing more than another tool in your arsenal/layer of defense.
     
    BinkNR, Nov 25, 2008
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  6. zerosource

    zerosource Notebook Deity

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    Cheers, :p
     
    zerosource, Nov 25, 2008
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