Thinkpad (T61) security features?

A couple of things I wanted to ask about... I've been hearing ads on the radio now about the T61 being ultra-secure because of the fingerprint reader (available on many notebooks now) and an 'encrypted' hard drive. I don't know anything about that latter part... anyone care to explain?

Since when was the hard drive encrypted? Is there software from Lenovo that does it?

I also wanted to ask about the finger print reader... I wanted to fingerprint-protect certain files and folders, like files that contain important personal information. Is the fingerprint reader only good for logging into windows?... That seems pretty limited. I don't make a habit of locking my windows session if I leave the thinkpad for a few minutes in a library or something... is there anyway to 'fingerprint-protect' files? I know you can *.rar/*.zip up files and put a numerical password on them. Is there a parallel for fingerprint readers?

 

Hopefully this will help with the HDD encryption: http://www.pc.ibm.com/us/security/securecomm.html

 

I didn't recieve this software with my Thinkpad? ...

 

Did you order your laptop with one of the encrypted HDD's? You can refer to the manual, it's probably in there somewhere. If you did order an encrypted HDD and still didn't get the software, you should call Lenovo and ask about it.

 

Fingerprint readers can replace a lot of passwords so you don't have to worry about it, it's not just used to log into Windows.
And rest assure, the fingerprint reader on the Thinkpad is one of the best premium reader you can find.

 

there's also a embedded security chip that can detect tamper on a t61...kinda neat

 

Do you have any more info on this? Its new to me and would like to know more.