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Another Stab at Laptop Security
kogus writes "LoJack is licensing its brand name to Absolute Software, which provides Computrace -- soon to be known as the 'LoJack for Laptops' line of computer theft recovery systems. When a stolen Computrace-equipped system is connected to the Internet, it automatically and silently sends locating data to Absolute Software, which then calls out the law. In some cases, Absolute Software customers are eligible for a $1,000 guarantee payment when a stolen system is not recovered within 60 days.
There was a time when laptops were stolen due to their price, and possible resale value on the black market. I personally think we are now in a new era where laptop theft (at least the corporate type) is no longer about getting a shiney new powerbook, and possibly selling it off the back of a truck. Today laptop theft could be for the information contained on the hard drive. Now lets think about the componsation, if my HR director "loses" his/her laptop with important information about me/co-workers, is $1000 really going to cover the loss? No, not even close. 1K in most cases will not even cover the cost of the laptop. For my money, I want a techonology that will encrypt the contents of that hard drive, and be easy enough for an HR director to use.
Paranoid tinfoil hat crowd say Y here, everyone else say N.
- How many corporations continue to run MS IIS to drive their corporate websites?
- How many people continue to run IE?
- How many people continue to run Windows and download the latest spyware infected software because it's trendy, even after they've had their computers infected countless times?
Your right, security is an illusion, and some people prefer to turn a blind eye rather than look at the root cause.
Too late for what? For recovery? No. For prosecution of the thief? Probably. For prosecution of the moron who bought it and knew it was stolen? No.
It's unlikely anyone but the last buyer will even attempt to connect it to the Internet. So whether the police uses 12 weeks or 4 months to get to him doesn't matter much, they will still find the laptop, and someone to put in jail.
On the other hand, the mechanism only works on idiots. If I were to buy a stolen laptop (not that I'm into that kind of thing anyway), I would of course wipe it clean, just as I do with any other new or used computer that gets into my hands...
Yeah. You missed the fact that all of the IIS advisories were remote access vulnerabilities, while the Apache advisories were mostly DoS attacks and local privilege escalation.