The Ability to Lock, Delete, Locate and Recover Stolen Mobile Devices is Critical for Victims of Theft
Vancouver, Canada: May 18, 2011 – Absolute® Software Corporation (“Absolute” or the “Company”) (TSX: ABT), the leading provider of firmware embedded endpoint security and management solutions that reduce IT costs, prove regulatory compliance, respond to computer theft, and optimize productivity, today announced that its commercial and consumer products, Computrace® and LoJack® for Laptops, have achieved a record number of more than 600 recoveries in the month of March 2011. Using persistence technology, combined with its team of skilled investigators and relationships with local law enforcement agencies, Absolute has reached nearly 20,000 successful mobile device recoveries for organizational and consumer customers.
“Organizations and consumers alike are concerned when it comes to protecting their laptops and the valuable data on them. When it comes to a solution to this growing security concern, customers depend on Absolute’s patented persistence technology combined with the years of experience and knowledge of our Theft Recovery Team, ” said Lyle Singular, Vice President of Recovery Services, Absolute Software. “After 17 years in the industry, we are proud to have helped customers around the globe recover their stolen laptops, recover and protect their invaluable personal data, deter theft in their environment, modify their security policies based on intelligence we provide, and contribute to safer communities by identifying criminals. It is due to these aspects of our services that we have become essential to our customers, and that we continue to generate more than 75% of our sales from existing customers.”
Since 2005 with the launch of our firmware-embedded technology with major PC OEM manufacturers and continued feature enhancements, Absolute has become the standard for device and data security as theft recovery is an essential element to protecting devices. Additionally, data obtained during the recovery process provides law enforcement agencies with the intelligence needed to return stolen mobile devices and, in some cases, pursue further criminal investigations. As a result, Absolute has successfully enabled recovered nearly 20,000 stolen laptops for customers in more than 75 countries. In 2010 alone, this amounted to the retrieval of more than $6 million dollars in assets and the arrest of 505 suspects.
Based on the intelligence gathered by the Absolute Theft Recovery Team, automobiles are one of the top locations for laptop theft. Our customers have used information such as this to helping them to set the right security policies, making their environments more secure. Guy Louthian, of Columbia, South Carolina, experienced this firsthand when he returned to his car to find that it had been broken into and his Dell laptop was stolen. After filing a theft report with his local police department, he also reported his laptop as stolen to Absolute, allowing the Theft Recovery Team to begin working to track and recover the device immediately.
According to Louthian, “My stolen laptop had been wiped clean, but luckily LoJack for Laptops was still intact and working.” Because persistence is a key feature of LoJack for Laptops, if the software is maliciously removed from a user’s hard drive, it can silently reinstall itself so that Absolute can continue to track the stolen device. For Louthian, that made the difference. As a result, police tracked down his laptop and recovered it—in another state. “The investigator assigned to my case stated hands down that LoJack for Laptops is the best recovery technology available. It is pennies compared to the cost of replacing a laptop,” said Louthian.
For more information or to purchase LoJack for Laptops, please visit https://www.lojack.absolute.com.
How Computrace Technology Works
Computrace and LoJack for Laptops are powered by the Absolute Software patented Computrace persistence technology. When embedded in the firmware of computers from leading computer manufacturers*, Computrace can survive operating system re-installations, as well as hard-drive reformats, replacements and re-imaging, helping to ensure that the service is there when you need it most. Whether a PC or Mac, the software is virtually undetectable and phones home to the Absolute Monitoring Center with location and asset information. If a computer is reported stolen, the Absolute Theft Recovery Team works on behalf of the customer to gather evidence from the computer to identify the thief’s location, and then works with local police to get the computer back. Customers can also remotely delete data to help keep it out of the hands of unauthorized users – a reliable contingency in case data protection solutions fail. Computrace or LoJack for Laptops can be easily activated by customers when they install a license ranging from 1-3 years.
*For a list of computers with firmware-embedded support, visit www.absolute.com.