My Two Cents: Software rescues and restores lost information

Some of you may of heard that last week two Starbucks laptops were stolen, each containing personal employee data. Rest assured, this had nothing to do with me getting a hold of their growth plans for the coming year; however, it does bring me to the topic of this week's column: laptop security. A new company out of Vancouver, Canada called Absolute Software has come out with a product that can help deal with this problem faced by companies, individuals, and universities alike. Its computer protection software, called Computrace, is a microchip embedded in a laptop, which can be tracked in the event of a theft, even if a hard drive has been wiped. When the stolen computer connects to the Internet, the software provides its location to Absolute's recovery team, headed by a former member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, which then works with local law enforcement to recover the PC. It can also be used to remotely delete data post-theft, which is a very appealing element to anyone with personal or sensitive information on their computer.

I spoke with David Escalante, director of computer policy and security at Boston College Information Technology Services, and learned that BC laptops - both student and professor - have no tracking ability whatsoever. I wonder why we do not since it seems like it could only be a benefit and has been demonstrated as such by the universities and companies that have adopted it.

Quinnipiac University is one such institution that has adopted this "LoJack" for their laptops. It requires its students to purchase the same Dells that BC recommends for us; however, it takes full advantage of Dell's partnership with Absolute Software, equipping all of its laptops with the extra security. It seems that their experience has been very successful, as Quinnipiac has been able to track and recover laptops in Connecticut as well as Israel, with relative ease and certainly with the advantage of a streamlined process. It seems it is certainly living up to its maxim "Keep it simple. Keep it safe."

Absolute Software has grown 54 percent in the last year and is working on filling the estimated $1 billion niche market open to computer tracking security, anticipating a 30 to 40 percent growth annually in the near future.

A heavy majority of its growth and market share will come through partnerships with PC makers, and 77 percent of total sales come from marketing its partnerships to companies and universities.

One partnership in particular, with Gateway, shows potential for growth into the cell phone and personal digital assistant (PDA) markets. How great would it be if every time you lost your cell phone, dropping it in a cab or something, you could have it tracked and/or have the numbers deleted. I hope that in their quest for new business Absolute calls on BC.

I can not even imagine the disaster that would transpire if I lost my laptop and all my work that it holds.

It seems that with a product like Computrace I would never have to worry about it, just as Starbucks and its peers are no longer hyperventilating over the loss of consumer and employee information on swiped laptops.

Lauren Sottile is a staff columnist for The Heights. She welcomes comments at sottilel@bcheights.com.