The need for taking the profit out of stealing laptops and protecting sensitive and important information continues to grow with the increased popularity of mobile broadband notebooks.  Theft or loss of notebooks can have enormous financial consequences for both consumers and enterprise users, especially when sensitive data on the notebook is lost or obtained by unauthorized persons.

Through this collaboration between Ericsson and Intel, a theft management service residing in the network can send a message via SMS to the mobile broadband module inside the notebook, which securely transfers the message to Intel's Anti-Theft function inside the processor platform, which takes appropriate actions, such as completely locking the computer, making it unusable. When the notebook is located and recovered, an unlock message can be sent to the notebook that makes the data accessible again.

Mats Norin, Vice President and head of Mobile Broadband Modules at Ericsson said: "We share a common vision with Intel about offering consumers and enterprise users a secure mobile broadband experience for their notebooks. We are committed to work with industry leaders to shape a complete, end-to-end solution to drive increased mobile broadband adoption."

"We have entered a new era for security for the on-the-go businessperson in which losing a notebook or having it stolen can have disastrous implications," said George Thangadurai, director of Intel's Strategy and Platform Planning Group, and general manager of the company's Anti-Theft Program. "Intel's Anti-Theft PC Protection technology takes notebook security to a new level, making notebook theft for profit an exercise in futility and with third-party software help secure data. By teaming with Ericsson, we are extending the benefits of Intel Anti-Theft PC Protection to those who use mobile broadband networks."

The solution builds on Ericsson's Mobile Broadband Modules, which are tightly integrated in and optimized for notebooks, and Intel's Anti-Theft PC Protection technology, which can lock a stolen or lost notebook.  Intel Anti-Theft Technology provides an intelligent mechanism built into the processor platform that detects potential theft situations and responds according to IT policies. Anti-Theft PC Protection technology can be programmed to respond to repeated login failures and expiration of a timer that requires regularly scheduled connection to a central server.

When a loss or theft is detected, Intel Anti-Theft PC Protection technology can lock the laptop, rendering it useless, by blocking the boot process, and when working in conjunction with third-party encryption hardware or software can protect data by deleting cryptographic keys or similar essential code for decryption.

The theft management service can also take advantage of built-in Global Positioning System (GPS) technology in the Ericsson mobile broadband module, which can send location data to a central server.  The location function can be utilized to determine a theft situation when the notebook is moved outside a pre-defined area - a so called geo-fence to locate a lost notebook.

Ericsson Mobile Broadband Modules are already optimized with Intel® Centrino® 2 processor technology to achieve excellent battery life and will in addition be validated to guarantee the interworking with Intel Anti-Theft PC Protection Technology. The solution will be available in commercial data protection products starting second half of 2009.

Ericsson Mobile Broadband Modules support HSPA -- the world's most widely commercially deployed technology for mobile broadband, and provides the end user with a simple, cost effective and convenient solution for broadband access while on-the-go.

 

Photos and more info on Ericsson's mobile broadband module:
www.ericsson.com/solutions/mobile_broadband_modules/press.shtml

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www.ericsson.com/broadcast_room

 

 

Ericsson Media Relations

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E-mail: press.relations@ericsson.com

HSPA stands for High Speed Packet Access. An inherent advantage of HSPA is that the technology is a natural extension of existing WCDMA/GSM networks, or about 85 percent of the world's existing wireless networks, and therefore is widely available to a large number of wireless users, creating a mass market for mobile broadband. Ericsson's HSPA mobile broadband solution is part of Ericsson's Full Service Broadband offering. HSPA technology and its future evolution steps can offer download speeds over 80Mbps and upload speeds over 20Mbps.