Fact: A laptop is stolen every 53 seconds, while 12,000 laptops disappear every week from U.S. airports alone.1 Of all lost laptops, 46% had confidential data and no encryption.2
Intel® Anti-Theft Technology helps stop laptop theft by making computers useless to thieves with immediate shut down. And, if the stolen computer is recovered, all data can be quickly reactivated to full functionality. Intel AT is available on select 2nd generation Intel® Core™ and 2nd generation Intel® Core™ vPro™ processor families–based laptops when activated with a service subscription from an Intel AT–enabled service.
How Intel® Anti-Theft Technology works
Because Intel® Anti-Theft Technology (Intel® AT) is built right into the processor of a laptop, it’s activated as soon as the machine is turned on—even before startup.
If a laptop is lost or stolen, a local or remote “poison pill” can be activated that renders the laptop completely inoperable. This means that predators cannot hack into the system at startup.
Intel® AT works even without Internet access and, unlike many other solutions, is hardware based, so it is tamper resistant.
Laptop security for business
Employee laptops can be some of the most well-travelled technology in business. Intel® AT gives businesses maximum flexibility and secure control of network assets on and off-site.
- Access to encrypted data can be disabled by deleting essential elements of the cryptographic materials that are required to access the encrypted data on the hard drive.
- The PC can be disabled using a “poison pill” to block the boot process, even if the boot order is changed or the hard drive is replaced or reformatted. Regardless of the PC’s state, it will check as soon as it starts to wake up for any kill pill that has been sent, including via text message.
- A customizable “Theft Mode” message allows the IT administrator to send a message to whoever starts up the laptop to notify them that it has been reported stolen.
- Excessive login attempts trigger PC disable after an administrator-defined number of failed attempts. At this point, the Intel® AT trigger is tripped and the system locks itself down.
- Failure to check in with the central server can trigger PC disable when a check-in time is missed. The IT administrator can set system check-in intervals. Upon a missed check-in time, the system is locked down until the user or IT administrator reactivates the system.
New Intel® AT features take advantage of 3G networks
With Intel® Anti-Theft Technology (Intel® AT), IT administrators can now use encrypted SMS messages over a 3G network to send a poison pill, remotely unlock a recovered laptop quickly, or direct the system to send location information (GPS coordinates) back to the central server.3
- Poison pill delivery via an encrypted SMS message over a 3G network: 3G connections can occur regardless of the state of the OS, via a direct hardware link between Intel® AT and the 3G module.
- Remote unlock via an encrypted SMS message over a 3G network: This lets IT reactivate the laptop within minutes of recovering the PC.
- Location beaconing: Intel® AT can now transmit latitude and longitude (using GPS coordinates) to the central server if the system is equipped with a supported 3G module. IT administrators can specify automated beaconing at regular intervals or location information on request when the laptop is marked as lost or stolen.
