Laptop Security : Mobile Theft Protection from Gateway
ZDnet news reports: “Gateway puts a trace on laptops“. Starting with Gateway’s M250, M460 and M680 notebooks there is a new hardware available called The Mobile Theft Protection. It uses technology from Absolute Software’s Computrace, and the main feature is that it promises to locate computers:
Once the device is activated, Absolute guarantees the recovery of the computer. If the laptop is not recovered within 60 days, the customer may be eligible for a refund of up to $1,000.
The device is preinstalled in the laptops, but customers will need to add $99 to the price of the computer to activate the coverage for three years.
Gateway’s other embedded security feature, now available for notebooks, is the industry’s latest (and controversial) hardware security standard–Trusted Platform Module version 1.2. The technology is already included in Gateway’s E-series desktop computers.
Gateway said the TPM chip helps encrypt data and manage passwords. The hardware includes secure authentication software to protect corporate networks by storing keys, passwords and digital certificates on the processor, the computer maker said.
