Re: Laptop

["Basgen, Brian" <bbasgen () PIMA EDU>]

 We have had our computers (around 6,000 at any given time) on
Computrace for a few years now. We have a few thefts a year, and we have
had recoveries or received the insurance money for a failure to
recovery. Our experience has been great. We've even helped them recover
computers that had been stolen from other organizations, and showed up
on our network! :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Brian Basgen
Information Security
Pima Community College


> -----Original Message-----
> From: The EDUCAUSE Security Constituent Group Listserv
> [mailto:SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU] On Behalf Of Nipper, Johnny R.
> Sent: Wednesday, June 11, 2008 11:38 AM
> To: SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU
> Subject: Re: [SECURITY] Laptop
>
> We started using Computrace this year.  All of our new machines arrive
> w/ Computrace.  We also are retrofitting our existing machines.  Each
> department is responsible for purchasing their own licenses.  So far
we
> have 1091 licenses purchased and no major issues.  We haven't had a
> machine reported stolen, so I cannot comment on the recovery.
>
> But as someone said before, it has a persistent module built into bios
> to survive wiping the drive and deletion of the agent.  I was told
that
> this will survive a bios flash as it is in a protected area.  The
> retrofitted machines store this persistent agent in a partition gap.
> You can also request a remote data delete of sensitive information if
a
> laptop is stolen.  This will also check the time stamps of the data to
> see if someone has accessed the data (assuming a program such as
> timestomp has not been used.)
>
> One issue that is difficult to manage is the call in rate.  The agent
> is
> set to call every 25 hours.  If a machine is not booted for over 30
> days, you will lose your recovery guarantee.  This does not mean that
> it
> cannot be recovered, but the guarantee is gone. If you have machines
on
> the campus that are rarely used, this is something to consider.
>
> -Johnny
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: The EDUCAUSE Security Constituent Group Listserv
> [mailto:SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU] On Behalf Of Chuck McCants
> Sent: Wednesday, June 11, 2008 12:57 PM
> To: SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU
> Subject: [SECURITY] Laptop
>
> Hello All,
> I'd appreciate hearing what laptop encryption products are in use out
> there and preferences in whole disk encryption vs. file/folder
> encryption.
>
> Also, any experience with Absolute Software and their lo-jack product
> Computrace would be helpful.
>
> Thanks.
> --
>
> Chuck McCants
> Lead Security Specialist
> C&IT Security and Access Mgmt
> Wayne State University
> 313.577.3455