Self-destructing laptops are go!

Posted by on Wed 20 Feb 2008

No explosions, just a neat way to destroy your personal info if some scallywag nicks off with your notebook.

Fancy turning your laptop into a Mission: Impossible style, self-destructing monster? Well, it seems you don't need to be Tom Cruise (shame that one) or an MI6 agent to get in on the action.

See, British data warrior Virtuity has developed a piece of software called Backstopp that'll destroy data on your lappie when it gets lifted out of a designated safe area.

The premise is simple: you establish a zone where your laptop lives. If someone moves it as much as an inch out of that area, Backstopp will activate a self-destruct message.

There's even talk that it'll use inbuilt webcams to snap thieves while they're at it. Now that's pretty neat.

The service is et to cost a tenner a month. And seeing as the British government has developed a pretty big habit of leaving sensitive PCs lying around, we're betting Gordon Brown will be first in the queue.

Hit the links below for more info.

14:25

Boom!