Laptops UK
 
 
Service deletes files on stolen laptops
Thu, 13 Apr 2006
Lose your laptop; lose your identity, right? Not quite. If you contract with Everdream, you can have that data wiped even after the laptop has gone missing.

Everdream, the leading provider of on-demand desktop management services, today announced the launch of its Theft Recovery Managed Service, which enables companies to retain control over misplaced or stolen PCs and laptops by encrypting or deleting data contained on the computer .

The Everdream software is implemented as an agent on the PC or laptop. When the device is stolen and next connects to the Internet, the agent software links to Everdream's control centre and sends a set of network-location information.

This triggers the sending of software from the control centre to automatically encrypt or delete files on the stolen device. Customers of Everdreams Theft Recovery Service set policies to say whether files are deleted or encrypted and which files are to be targeted.

With an increasingly distributed and mobile workforce, the risk of computer loss and theft is a growing problem for corporations. "With our high number of remote and mobile workers, lost and stolen laptops and the possible loss of proprietary data is a big concern for us," said Ron Ridge, CIO, Bowe Bell + Howell.

"Everdream's new service gives us the security of knowing that vital company information is safeguarded and that unauthorised users can't access our internal network."

The company says that the network-location information can assist law-enforcement agencies in tracking the stolen box. In the UK it is debatable if the Police would do anything other than provide a theft reference number if a PC was stolen.

The theft recovery service is in addition to Everdream's other services, which include asset management, software distribution, online backup, virus protection and patch management. The new service costs $6 per PC per month in the USA assume £5 or so in the UK, the representative said.

Everdream manages more than 140,000 desktops for clients including ADP, Korean Airlines, Midas, Salesforce.com, Sonic Automotive and Sylvan Learning Centres, the company said.