Lenovo taps SMS for laptop security

Lenovo is to offer the ability to lock down its ThinkPad laptops remotely by text message.

The new Constant Secure Remote Disable feature will come with ThinkPad laptops from 2009, enabling customers to deny access to a lost or stolen laptop providing that it has an active 3G adapter capable of receiving the pre-defined message.

The service will be available in the US from the first quarter of 2009 at no additional cost. It was co-developed by Lenovo and Phoenix Technologies, the company that supplies the system's firmware.

A spokesman for Lenovo said that the technology is expected to be available for European customers at about the same time.

Constant Secure Remote Disable is similar to that found in phones such as the Nokia E71 enterprise handset. The user can define a word or phrase that, when sent to the handset, will lock it until the correct PIN is entered.