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IBM Security Chip? What does it do?

So I just got an Thinkpad X40. Its has this IBM Security Chip on it. What does it do?

I'm looking at securing the data on the hard drive. I installed PGP Whole disk, it doesn't work well, so I'm not looking at other full disk encryption products but seen the security chip deal. Does this chip do the same thing - encrypt the data on the HD? How does it protect me? What exaclty does it do?

Thanks

nobus

Look here :

http://www.pc.ibm.com/us/security/

Gary Case

The most well-known feature of the security chip -- and one that really frustrate legitimate owners who don't realize how secure this chip is and manage to forget their password --- is that it stores any BIOS passwords you set in a VERY secure manner.

You can set a password to access your PC -- and it will be stored in the chip.

BUT, if you do so, be sure you DO NOT FORGET it. With the security chip, if you forget your password, there is NO WAY to reset it. It will require a motherboard replacement !!

This is, from a security perspective, a very good thing. But there are been frequent postings from folks who forgot their passwords hoping to find a way to reset them. Answer is: you can't :)

scottg

ASKER

What if I just took the hard drive from the thinkpad laptop and move it to another computer. I could boot it then or hex edit it to read all the information right? so the data actually isn't secure at all, just the password is. correct?

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

Gary Case

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