McAfee and Intel have teamed up to ensure the latter's soon-to-be-released Ultrabook devices are less attractive to computer and data thieves.
Anti-theft software solution will come bundled with the first Ultrabooks when they ship next year, the two confirmed at the Intel Developer Forum today in San Francisco.
"[Security] is a growing concern. Numbers show about 12,000 devices will be left in an airport each and every week. Device and data security has become a bigger part of our strategy, our product portfolio and our partner [ecosystem]," said Todd Gebhart a McAfee co-president.
When you do a transaction with the bank you want to make sure nobody is joining the party.
"Whether they want to lock the data or wipe the data if the device becomes lost or stolen, they [the user] have control. They have peace of mind knowing its locked or wiped."
Intel's vice president and general manager of the PC client group Mooly Eden likened the software to a suicide pill users could send to their computer to ensure the data contained therein didn't fall into the wrong hands and so that a stolen machine was rendered useless.
He also suggested manufacturers in Brazil were interested in ensuring devices using this technology were obvious so that criminals didn't target protected machines.
"[There are] two kinds of security we need to add. [First] the physical security of your asset. If somebody steals your notebook what do we do? But it's not only the asset. It's the content too. You want to make sure the data is protected," he said.
"When you do a transaction with the bank you want to make sure nobody is joining the party."
Eden also said we could expect an imminent announcement about a major credit company pledging to adopt this technology to protect its customers.
