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Location-Based Encryption
davidwr writes "Eweek reports Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has a new way to prevent theft of company secrets on stolen laptops: 'Wozniak offered a peek into his vision for the company on Ziff Davis Media's Security Virtual Tradeshow, where he introduced "wOz Location-Based Encryption," an application that uses GPS tracking within a wireless hub to encrypt and decrypt sensitive data for large businesses.' Today's encryption is good enough but I do like the tracking capability. Imagine your laptop screaming 'I'm being stolen! I'm being stolen!' and paging security as the janitor walks out the door with it."
This has come up before- here is a link to a 2001 Wired article about the British intelligence services using laptops with ``a built-in electronic self-destruct mechanism that erases a laptop's hard drive if the case is opened by force'' when a code is forgotten, as well as ``a tracking feature that allows a computer gone astray to call home." This was after a spate of embarrassing episodes where laptops with lots of important info went missing. I don't know if it's been implemented but this does seem to have some interesting applications, potentially...
It's psychosomatic. You need a lobotomy. I'll get a saw.
IBM Thinkpads have had RFID in them for a while now, to prevent them being taken out of specific areas.
Like tinyurl, but one letter less! http://qurl.co.uk/
> This allows the device to at least estimate where I am if it
:)
> has a weak signal somehow. I don't really get all the details...
> but it works so I don't complain.
Well a GPS receiver has about 8-12 channels with which to look for the satellites. If it knows roughly where you are, then it can use that information, together with stored almanac data (info relating to the orbital positions of the satellites over time) in order to better guess *which* satellites it should try locking on to. It basically speeds up the process of getting the all important 'first fix'. If you didn't tell it where it was, it would simply take longer to get the fix - but it would still get there eventually.
I must admit, I wasn't too impressed when I received my first GPS and the very first question it asked me when I turned it on is "Please select the location of this device using the map below". I was like, "huh, aren't you supposed to tell me that?!".
True, very true...
Also one should note that in most cases, when someones steals a laptop, it is for the laptop itself, and they couldn't care less for the data on it...as long as they can download the corresponding drivers later on...
One the laptop get sold, it'll suffer a quick reinstall. and the security dongle will become a nice high tech keychain 8)
+ This system assumes I have a physical access to the machine...
If I have physical access to the machine (usually you find them plugged into the network, and no screensaver password...) all I have to do is either install a quick soft from the net or from the cd/usb key I have with me...
Keylogger/bot/zombie/spyware/remote desktop... I can do whatever I want...and your security is breached...
It takes 40+ muscles to frown, but only four to extend your arm and bitchslap the motherfucker
I have a 1st generation GPS device so maybe my info is out of date, but it has a hard time getting a location in heavy forest, never mind in a massive concrete and steel building. All this seems like it would rule out most real world applications, so I think something is missing in this story - Woz aint no dummy. Any conjectures?
Not to mention that janitors -- being blue collar and generally lower on the social totem pole -- *know* they're the first to be suspected/fired when something goes missing.
Generally speaking the theives are coworkers, with sticky fingers. But usually it's people -- dressed nicely -- who just walk in off the street, looking like they belong, and picking something up and quietly taking off.
We've had a fair bit of the latter where I work.
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