A British company has patented a hi-tech version of the cash boxes which squirt dye or shoot out poles - in the form of laptop software. The software photographs the thief, pinpoints his or her whereabouts and quietly destroys sensitive data.
The system has already been tested following a number of recent high-profile cases involving government laptops taken home or left in staff members' cars against regulations.
A program available on license for ￡10 (NT$615) a month links to a control center, which takes action if a laptop is used outside designated areas such as a government office or even a specific employee's desk. Once connected to the Internet, which with the latest generation laptops would happen automatically when switched on, the computer takes pictures of its surroundings while sending out its location to the control center.
"We guarantee to monitor the state and whereabouts of any laptop's electronic 'heartbeat,' and to trigger the destruction of any files in the case of unauthorized, or apparently unauthorized, use," said Dean Bates of Virtuity, the IT firm which has devised the scheme.
"There are millions of laptops out there containing valuable data. Most of them are not stolen because of that, but it's an obvious attraction if the thief wants to sell the computer on to more serious criminals."
The BackStopp program is claimed to be undetectable to thieves, both when sending identification data and while wiping sensitive files. With the new generation of laptops, which use mobile phones' GSM (Global System for Mobile communications) system, the mechanisms would be in action as soon as a laptop left a room - even in the stairwell as a thief escaped from someone's home or office.(THE GUARDIAN)
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