Intel is working on new technology that would better secure laptops in the case of theft. It’s being called “Anti-Theft Technology”, aka ATT, and they plan to roll it out later this year (although, according to the article, it won’t be available for some time).
While there is already disk encryption available that can prevent people from obtaining personal data, this would take things one step further, since it would render the whole laptop useless to the would-be thieves. As it stands now, laptop thieves could easily replace the hard drives, and then sell the laptops elsewhere.
It involves a chip in the laptop that would stop the machine from booting up without the owner’s permission.
It’s not just Intel working on this either:
Intel isn’t working on this initiative alone, though. In fact, a number of third parties announced today that they were partnering up with Intel to support ATT, such as Absolute Software Corporation (creators of firmware-based data protection/tracking solutions), BIOS maker Phoenix, and Utimaco (a data security company), to name a few. Intel also says that McAfee is on board, as well as manufacturers like Lenovo and Fujitsu.