Phoenix also noted that in the event that the Fujitsu FDE HDD product is removed by the thief, it can be restored remotely by the rightful owner and further steps can be taken at that point to secure and recover their data. Exactly how the user will be able to LoJack their hard drive was not outlined in the press release, but if it works as advertised, having the ability to track down, disable or destroy data remotely could prove invaluable for individuals privy to sensitive information. Exactly when the FailSafe system is expected to be released has not been announced.

Press release:

Phoenix Technologies Brings Remote Data Protection to Fujitsu Mobile Disk Drives

- Phoenix FailSafe(TM) will enhance FDE-based notebooks with remote secure erase functionality and more
- Phoenix FailSafe service is optimized for the leading mobile hard drives available in the market today

MILPITAS, Calif., May 5, 2008 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX News Network/ — Phoenix Technologies Ltd. (Nasdaq: PTEC) today announced it is working with Fujitsu Limited (TSE: 6702) to enable remote disk control and disk data protection for mobile computing environments equipped with Fujitsu's new full disk encryption (FDE) 2.5" 7,200RPM SATA hard disk drive (HDD). With Phoenix FailSafe, the laptop or notebook owner can remotely disable the Fujitsu FDE drive in the laptop, thus ensuring "failsafe" protection against data theft and personal information loss.

"Fujitsu's new FDE technology delivers the industry's strongest security method for mobile computing, while preserving a high level of performance," said Joel Hagberg, vice president, marketing and business development, Fujitsu Computer Products of America, Inc. "Our encryption capabilities ensure data on the disk drive is inaccessible to unauthorized users if a laptop is lost or stolen. By enabling users to remotely disable, enable or securely erase the drive in a laptop, the Phoenix Failsafe solution provides an added level of protection to further prevent any confidential information from being compromised."

Surendra Arora, vice president of business development at Phoenix Technologies, said, "We are committed to providing the best theft deterrence service and data protection solutions in the PC industry. Phoenix's FailSafe theft-deterrence service will allow the PC owner to track, remotely disable and securely erase the Fujitsu disk drive. In the event of laptop theft, if the FailSafe agent pre-installed on the Fujitsu FDE HDD product is removed by the computer/data thief, the authorized owner will be able to remotely re-install the FailSafe agent in the compromised system and take further steps to ensure protection as well as recovery of the data on the laptop."

Phoenix FailSafe not only enables laptop owners to remotely protect and encrypt vital content stored on their laptops' hard drives, it also provides the ability to locate/recover missing laptops and lost data as well as remotely 'kill' sensitive data or the device to avoid potential misuse.

It was previously thought that data held in so-called "volatile memory" was only retained for a few seconds after the machine was switched off. But the team found that data including encryption keys could be held and retrieved for up to several minutes.

There's a simple defense. If you shut down your laptop and let it sit for several minutes before going into a dangerous environ, there is little chance that the keys would be recovered from volatile memory. But seriously, when was the last time anyone shut down their laptop completely? [BBC News]

"We can't decipher it," says Joerg Ziercke, President of the BKA, Germany's Federal Police Office. "That's why we're talking about source telecommunication surveillance — that is, getting to the source before encryption or after it's been decrypted." He does not, however, advocate that the Talinn-based internet company gave law enforcers its encryption keys.

"There are no discussions with Skype," he continued, stating that he had no interest in harming a company's competitiveness. "I don't think that any provider would go for that." He did, however, express the need for his country's law enforcement agencies to be able to conduct online searches of suspects' hard drives using Trojan Horse spyware, but he stressed that these cases were rare.

"We currently have 230 proceedings related to suspected Islamists," Ziercke said. "I can imagine that in two or three of those we would like to do this." [i4u and VoIP News]

The hardware encryption is one aspect of the IronKey, but the online component is another. When you log in to the IronKey website (which again requires both your password and your IronKey to be physically plugged in to your machine), you can activate their secure web-browsing service which turns FireFox into a malware-protected, "stealth surfing" application. Other security-nut features include a "potting" technique that fills the innards of the key with black goo, waterproofing it past military standards and preventing hardware crypto-analysis. $79 will get you 1GB of peace of mind, but the biggest option is the 4GB drive for $149. [IronKey via EverythingUSB]

The drive comes with the Lexar dashboard software for both Mac and Vista (although the OS X version required a driver install and a reboot) that was easy to use and easy to create mounted encrypted partitions on the drive. After setting aside 500MB of our 1GB drive on the partition—which was then mounted as a separate disk—we could drag and drop files onto it and it would be completely unreadable (it just looked like a file) when the drive was on another machine unless you knew the password.

What's also convenient is the ability to encrypt and decrypt files that are not on the drive, meaning you can use the drive to encrypt half the files on your hard drive if you wanted. Except if you lost the drive, well, you'd probably have to go buy another one. All in all, their claims of this being the cheapest drive with the e-ink and 256-bit AES encryption makes this drive worthwhile in sizes from 512MBs up to 4GBs. An 8GB version should be available soon. – Jason Chen

Product Page [Lexar]

XCD Patent [via New Scientist Tech]

Its encryption can be configured more precisely, too, where you can designate specific folders that can only be accessed with fingerprint authentication. It's also able to synchronize its data with a PC via Outlook. Pricing and availability wasn't announced yet. – Charlie White

External hard disk with fingerprint sensor [AVing]

This week at Lifehacker: Build yourself a solar-powered wifi booster for the backyard. Your mousing wrist feeling a little achy? Train yourself to mouse lefty (or righty, lefties.) PayPal your buddy your share of the dinner bill with your cell phone. Add encryption to Gmail and sync your Google calendar with your mobile phone or handheld.

With the Secure Phone Miser (well, at least two of 'em, since the encryption is dependent on both ends of the telephone conversation having a unit installed in order for it to work), users configure the device with one of over 1 million unique codes, allegedly making your phone conversation completely immune against things such as phone taps. In the event that you need to talk to multiple parties simultaneously, the Secure Phone Miser supports up to 10 links, conference call style. Of course, it only works with regular telephones, that is, not cellphones.

LEDs and audio tone signals let you know whether or not a call in properly encrypted and the optional 9V battery lets you become a mobile Artful Dodger.

You can grab the Secure Phone Miser right now for $239, and $195 for each additional unit (remember to grab at least two!), which is still significantly cheaper than other encryption devices we've seen on the market.

Secure Phone Miser [Spy Gadgets via The Red Ferret Journal]

Things get really different when you want to encrypt phone calls, where the catch is that you'll need two of these phones talking to each other for the encryption to work. After a 10- to 30-second handshaking process, the two phones share a unique 128-bit key that uses something called a 1024-bit Diffie-Hellman shared secret exchange. The two phones use this particular key just once and then delete it after the call.

Can the encryption be broken? Vectrotel says yes, it is possible to decrypt a phone call, but it will take you about a trillion years. The company didn't say how much the phone will cost but if you have some secret stuff to talk about, it just might be worth it.

Product page [Vectrotel, via Oh Gizmo]

Available now for $179.99 (40GB) and $339.99 (120GB).

LaCie SAFE Mobile Hard Drive with Encryption [LaCie via The Gadget Blog via Oh Gizmo!]

British officials are said to be in talks with Microsoft on ways of finding or creating a backdoor so that the government can have access to the contents of the hard drives of its constituents. Here's hoping Big Brother will need special permission before doing such things, and that our own Department of Homeland Security doesn't catch wind of this.

UK holds Microsoft security talks [BBC News]

This week at Lifehacker: That sound your computer's fan is making? It roughly translates to "Help! I'm being strangled by cat hair!" Get under your PC's hood and evacuate the dust bunnies partying on your video card.

Speaking of video, YouTube junkies can use a little Javascript voodoo and some free software encoding to save YouTube videos to your iPod or PSP.

So you're freaked out enough about co-workers getting into your bank account that you type in every password on the web every time, eh? Here's how to secure saved Firefox passwords - especially handy for the copy of portable Firefox you're toting around on that thumb drive. Be extra paranoid and encrypt all your thumb drive's data on the fly.

Remember when you were 15 and you bought that guitar because you wanted to be just like Van Halen? Well, Mom's still got that 6-stringer in the basement and a few free guitar tutorial vodcasts for your iPod can get you started down that road to rockstardom. Finally, iPod-lovin' runners, leave that stopwatch at home and get hoofin'. This useful Windows script generates interval running playlists set to start and end songs just when you're scheduled to switch gears.