Slashdot Mirror
Phoenix Unveils Anti-Theft BIOS
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..."
It was stolen. Police are investigating.
Damn Mozilla!
Aww! How do we expect to get an "early release" of Doom 4 now?
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
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>
Wiping the drive after it is removed from the machine is a pretty neat trick.
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.
A 500V shock direct to the testicles?
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
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?
here's another:
;-P
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
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
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...
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
you forgot the suggested: ;) i honestly wonder how some people get their degrees.
2 viruses = virii
3 viruses = viriii
and so on. now doesn't that make one feel educated?
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*
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..