The Risk of Full Disk Encryption – Solved by a Cell Phone

A major disadvantage of Whole Disk Encryption (also Full Disk Encryption) is the fact that your data is not protected while the computer is turned on, or even while it is in stand by. (We’ve highlighted this and more in our post “Whole Disk Encryption vs. File Based Encryption“.)

Assuming you decided to protect your data with Whole Disk Encryption and there is some truth to Murphy’s law, then your laptop gets stolen before you turned it off and your hard drive is still accessible to the lucky third who is now in possession of your valuable data. That is possible because you simply might not have bothered setting up a Windows login (which could easily be cracked anyways) or because the data thief knows how to perform the so called Cold Boot Attack, which we also explained in the above mentioned article.

As laptop manufacturers are aware of that problem, they developed a solution for people affected by it: Lenovo partnered with Phoenix Technologies to allow laptops equipped with a WWAN (wireless wide area network) chip to receive text messages (SMS) through the regular cell phone network.

You can then pair your notebook with your cell phone and set up a secret message that will trigger your operating system to shut down – given your notebook is within cell phone coverage, of course.

Next time you lose your laptop, just text it your secret message and relax: Your windows will automatically shut down and you data is safe.

Alternatively, you might want to consider using file based encryption technology that is not vulnerable to the above mentioned threat. See Hide and Encrypt Your Data with Steganos Safe.

Links about this topic:

• Phoenix Technologies

• Lenovo