Lenovo Security Updates Protect Stolen PC Data

Lenovo announced at the RSA Conference Monday that its ThinkPad laptops and ThinkCentre desktops now support anti-theft and encryption capabilities aimed at minimizing the chance of data falling into the wrong hands when computers are lost or stolen.

With partner WinMagic, which has worked with Intel to integrate its SecureDoc full-disk encryption with Intel's Anti-Theft technology, Lenovo has updated its security capabilities so that information technology managers can remotely locate a lost or stolen computer and "turn it into a brick" so no one could use it or see the data, says Clain Anderson, director, software in the Lenovo software and peripherals business unit.

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The hard-disk encryption capability, which is based on the Trusted Computing Group's Opal standard, is provided by WinMagic's SecureDoc software that has been integrated to work with the Intel Advanced Encryption Standard and Anti-Theft Technology 3.0.

The anti-theft and data encryption technology for Lenovo allows for a variety of security-related actions to be taken. These would include establishing an automatic lock-down if a certain number of login attempts have failed, or requiring the Lenovo computer to check in at a central server at specific times, and if that time is missed, the computer can be put into a lockdown mode. If a Lenovo computer is deemed to be lost or stolen, the IT administrator can also remotely disable access to encrypted data or block the boot process

Branded as SecureDoc for Lenovo, software pricing is licensed at about $90 per seat, based on volume, and includes a centralized encryption server for management, with the ability to put enterprise computer users into policy-based groups.

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