PC Data Security Blog

Dell’s Kill Switch

In a recent CNBC.com interview, when confronted with the scenario of a business laptop filled with sensitive data being accidentally left in a taxicab, Michael Dell explained the need for businesses to have access to a mechanism to “remotely kill the data on the device (laptop) if the device is lost”.  He went on to report that Dell offers such “Mission: Impossible” capability.  One can infer from this that Dell offers an Internet-based kill switch that allows the business administrator to remotely wipe all data if it ever again connects to the Internet.  That’s a great start but what if the crook doesn’t let it connect?  Laptops need be able to protect themselves by having behavior and time-based triggers that can take self-protective actions even if they never connect to a server again. And, of course, the data needs to be encrypted as well.  This is the security that PC makers should really offer.

A kill switch is nice but Mission: Impossible’s Mr. Phelps never connected the tape recorder to anything like the Internet – it simply self destroyed with a timer.

Kill at-risk data! Apple’s iPhone does it.

Apple’s recent announcement that its wildly successful iPhone has a “kill switch” capability has been met with surprise and even outrage on the part of some industry watchers and privacy advocates. http://news.yahoo.com/story//nf/20080811/tc_nf/61270 Apple’s stated purpose for imbedding the kill switch technology in the iPhone is that it needs the capability in the event a malicious program is introduced to the device such as applications that steal users’ data.   While conspiracy theorists might see a pernicious side to the kill switch and worry that Apple might use the application to collect information about its users, the momentum toward the broader application of this technology would appear unstoppable.  And there is already precedent:   As Business Weeks’ Olga Karif points out, other industry players, including wireless carriers, regularly remove harmful and/or offensive applications from users’ handheld devices.   http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/aug2008/tc20080818_266301.htm?campaign_id=rss_tech

Regardless of how one feels about the kill switch concept, this technology has legitimate and extremely useful applications, especially in the enterprise market, and particularly with regard to laptop computers.   Although Apple’s stated purpose for the kill switch is to remove potentially harmful applications, the same basic technology can be used by enterprises to destroy or prohibit access to lost or compromised laptop ­data.  In the same way that Apple might reach out and remove harmful content from the iPhone, an enterprise can use kill switch technology to remove data on lost or stolen laptops. Potential benefits of this capability are obvious given the myriad laws and regulations pertaining to protection and/or loss of private data.