Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Phoenix Unveils Anti-Theft BIOS

Posted by timothy on from the phoning-home dept.

linuxwrangler writes "According to articles at PC World, c|net, Internet Week and elsewhere, Phoenix Technology is introducing a new BIOS-based anti-theft system. Every time a TheftGuard equipped machine connects to the internet it pings a server at Phoenix which can instruct the machine to wipe its hard drive, report its location or disable itself. Given that most people don't want to have their every movement tracked and don't want someone else to have the power to wipe their drives, Phoenix figures that corporate clients are the prime customer. I just wonder who is liable when a company sells a surplus laptop on eBay but gets their inventory control screwed up and reports it as stolen..."

23 of 458 comments (clear)

  1. Shortly after the BIOS was unveiled by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    It was stolen. Police are investigating.

    1. Re:Shortly after the BIOS was unveiled by wo1verin3 · · Score: 4, Funny

      or disgruntled employee.

    2. Re:Shortly after the BIOS was unveiled by sheriff_p · · Score: 4, Funny

      I can't wait for the next round of people who stop trying to be cool by using the word 'virii' where 'viruses' is correct.

      --
      Score:-1, Funny
  2. I'm confused... by Patik · · Score: 5, Funny
    Is this Phoenix the web browser, or Phoenix the BIOS?

    Damn Mozilla!

  3. Great.. by flatface · · Score: 4, Funny
    A stolen notebook can be a real threat to a business's security ...

    Aww! How do we expect to get an "early release" of Doom 4 now?

  4. Re:Murphy's Law by Soko · · Score: 4, Funny

    Remember, Murphy was an optimist.

    I'll wait for the first virus that activates this feature while spoofing the HW address.

    "Help, Phoenix, I've been STOLEN!!! Nevermind that guy I've got in chains and a gag, BLOW THIS PLACE UP!! NOW!!!"

    *BLAM*.

    One less Windows XP install in the world. Then again, this might be very useful as a LART...

    "What was you machine's name again? *Clickety-click*

    Soko

    --
    "Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm." - Anonymous
  5. I am a user of this new technology.. by ewhenn · · Score: 4, Funny

    I would like to report that as a beta tester this new bios has served me flawlessly. I have 100 percent faith that I will never suffer any loss of data on its behalf. For all you skeptics out there I can guarantee....

    <CARRIER DISCONNECTED>

    1. Re:I am a user of this new technology.. by alexburke · · Score: 5, Funny

      <CARRIER DISCONNECTED>

      Dude, if you're gonna act all I-was-hip-way-back-in-the-BBS-days, at least get it righ&' 8Ré
      NO CARRIER

  6. Re:Replaceable Bios by GGardner · · Score: 5, Funny
    even if you remove the hard drive, we can still track or disable the machine, or wipe the drive,

    Wiping the drive after it is removed from the machine is a pretty neat trick.

  7. Company needs better PR guy. by Ignominious+Poltroon · · Score: 3, Funny
    "Over the last ten years laptops are starting to look the same," said Phoenix spokesperson David Tractenberg. "Something like TheftGuard can help to differentiate one product from another."

    Something like TheftGuard? It's like saying "TheftGuard is OK. But check out things that are like it, and you'll really be impressed."

  8. whaaaaa by lingqi · · Score: 5, Funny
    How bad will it suck when it happens to the CEO's assistant's laptop and she comes storming into your pitiful excuse for a NOC right before you were supposed to go on lunch?

    From my experience, CEOs usually have very very fine assistants.

    Hey, maybe she is actually very technically capable, and consciously activated the erase-all-data feature just so have an excuse to talk to you, give you a chance to ask for her extension etc. =)

    Aww shutup and let me daydream.

    --

    My life in the land of the rising sun.

  9. What stops someone from swaping out the bios chip by djupedal · · Score: 4, Funny

    A 500V shock direct to the testicles?

  10. ouch by x757x · · Score: 4, Funny

    now that would be THE anti-theft feature. who would screw with that? /me wonders....

    --
    http://music.x757x.org/ - techno dj mixes for your pleasure
    1. Re:ouch by shepd · · Score: 4, Funny

      >who would screw with that?

      Women?

      Nahhh....

      --
      If you could be told what you can see or read, then it follows that you could be told what to say or think - BoC
  11. Re:Problems With This Idea by rat7307 · · Score: 4, Funny

    We've traced the computer back to an IP address of 127.0.0.1, some ISP called 'localhost'... Look, I can ping it from here!!!! Nuke it now!!! ..... DOH!

    --
    Burma?
  12. nice scenarios in comments so far by circletimessquare · · Score: 4, Funny

    here's another:

    disgruntled fired admin, on his last day, instructs firewall servers to redirect pings to phoenixbios.net: boom! every computer in the company gets an empty harddrive ;-P

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
  13. Re:Location? by The_dev0 · · Score: 4, Funny

    It's directly across the road from 106.223.16.96, stupid. Gee whiz, you'll never be a cop.

    --
    Never fight naked, unless you're in prison...
  14. Wow, to be THAT hacker by sterno · · Score: 3, Funny

    Somebody hacks into the company and flips the kill switch on all the bios's. Thousdands of laptops, most of them not backed up routinely, are wiped. Ouchy.

    --
    This sig has been temporarily disconnected or is no longer in service
  15. Anti-Theft BIOS? by The+Original+Yama · · Score: 4, Funny

    Every time I open a system case, I feel like stealing the BIOS. Screw the CPU(s), memory, video card(s) and hard drive(s), just gimme that BIOS chip!

    --
    OLPC Australia
  16. Re:actually you are both right, but... by eeyoredragon · · Score: 5, Funny

    you forgot the suggested:
    2 viruses = virii
    3 viruses = viriii
    and so on. now doesn't that make one feel educated? ;) i honestly wonder how some people get their degrees.

    i guess an unknown quantity of viruses would be vir(i*)... as in, "well, there are many vir(i*) that could be the end of humanity." *shakes head in wonderment*

  17. Screw the BIOS sell me the sticker! by gad_zuki! · · Score: 3, Funny

    Likewise, it doesn't take more than a little research to find someone who can make "Phoenix Theft-Guard Protected" stickers for your laptop for a few pennies a pop.

    Personally, I'd go with the "This Laptop is GPS enabled and filled with C4 explosives set to go off when reported stolen. Enjoy life with your three out of ten fingers."

  18. When in Rome.. by McNally · · Score: 5, Funny

    you forgot the suggested:
    2 viruses = virii
    3 viruses = viriii
    and so on...

    i guess an unknown quantity of viruses would be vir(i*)...


    No, no, no.. It's inelegant to extend a latin root by just adding extra "i"s.. To be true to the spirit of the language, surely it would be more appropriate to proceed thusly:

    4 viruses = viriv
    9 viruses = virix
    1001 viruses = virmi

    etc..
  19. Meanwhile, in the secret Cavern... by elpapacito · · Score: 3, Funny

    Some guy in the Phoenix marketing has a brilliant idea ! Let's "market" the bios so that every year the user is forced to buy a "security upgrade" and let's call it a "security feature". At worse we'll blame either pirates like some other big company does, or we'll blame hackers. I hear the master hacker is hiding in caves...

    It seems obvious to me they want to extract more money out of customers by crippling the bios rather then by really improving it.