Stories about: Safeware

Updated software from Credant Technologies promises to simplify data encryption on mobile devices and fill in cryptographic gaps left by rival products.

With a record 13,000 attendees at this week's RSA Conference, vendors on the exhibit floor had every reason to pull out all the stops. And so they did, with IBM, Sun Microsystems, Computer Associates International and many more using RSA as their stage to highlight new products and services.

Executives from the chip-card industry are excited by the prospect of using cards carrying digital biometric data to improve speed and security in banking, immigration, and other activities requiring a secure means of identifying individuals. But critics are cautioning that there are major roadblocks, both technical and legal, before such systems can be made practical.

BOSTON (08/11/2000) - A car alarm blared, glass shattered and a laptop full of information was gone.

Since March, Intel Corp. has been quietly trying to persuade hardware and software vendors to adopt its Intel Protected Access Architecture -- a blueprint for preboot user authentication capabilities on mobile PCs.

If your firewalls, intrusion-detection software and encryption technologies make you feel safe, think again.

If your firewalls, intrusion-detection software and encryption technologies make you feel safe, think again.

Notebook computers are obvious and attractive targets for thieves because they're easily concealed, expensive and likely to contain valuable information. Statistics bear this out. Last year, 303,000 notebooks were stolen in the U.S., according to Safeware, The Insurance Agency Inc. in Columbus, Ohio. It's no surprise that a small industry exists to prevent the loss of notebook hardware and data and to help with their recovery. You can lock down notebooks with special hardware or install alarm systems that can tell when portables are being carried out the door without authorization. You can tighten data security by replacing typed passwords with smart cards and biometric authentication or use special software to track down lost computers. I tried three different approaches that are likely to appeal to senior-level road warriors: a portable alarm, a tracking-and-recovery software/service hybrid and voice-verification software.