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IBM Introduces Biometric Thinkpad
An anonymous reader writes "IBM has added biometric security to its thinkpad notebooks. The next generation of T series thinkpads will have an integrated fingerprint scanner for added security. The latest machines will also include some pretty cool encryption software, that will keep your hard disk safe, but still let you backup and restore images. This guy managed to get his hands on an early prototype T42 with the new security features integrated."
I tried one of these laptops for a while, took me weeks to get the thing to stop calling me Dave.
Some models of Micron laptops have had this feature for a while.
will IBM include linux support?
The difference between spam and poop is that you don't have to dig through septic tanks looking for real food. -- Me
If they designed it in such a way that the LEA backdoor is secure (say, it's got an LEA public key on it, and the private key is kept in the forensics labs), I'll buy one tomorrow. I don't have a need to defend against .gov adversaries - I just want to know that the data on my drives remains secure even after someone steals 'em to get his or her crack fix.
If, however, they designed it in such a way that the backdoor is not secure (say, a default password stored in cleartext on a serial EEPROM), that's another story. I'll download the crack when it comes out next week, and my soldering iron and I will have an endless supply of cheap entertainment when the machines start showing up at the surplus stores in 2009.
Now the Mafia have finally got another reason to cut your fingers off! And they can shoot you before you talk, as you don't have to talk.
Does this mean you can hack it to record your friends' (or co-workers') fingerprints? Sounds fun and scary.
No, you can't. From the article:
"Of course since the Power On security layer is something that occurs well before Windows has started up, the fingerprint data can't be stored in a Windows file or folder. Instead, the fingerprint scanner itself stores the fingerprint data and retrieves it when the Power On security request is made. You can store a total of 21 profiles in the scanner, which should be more than enough, unless you share one notebook between a score of users. If you're worried about someone extracting the fingerprint data from the scanner and breaking your security, dont be. The scanner only stores a tiny amount of data for each fingerprint, just enough to ensure an accurate match, and nowhere near enough to recreate a complete fingerprint."
#!/usr/bin/english