Trotter, Brian wrote:
> 
> Can someone recommend a product that will provide pre-boot authentication to
> the laptop? It will have to render the laptop useless unless the password is
> provided. I don't like the encrypted volume software that will encrypt
> select folders and such. I would like something that without the right
> password, the laptop wont even boot.

The best you can really do there is set a BIOS password. Encrypting the 
filesystem should be good enough, because if they have physical access 
to the laptop, there is not much you can do to stop them from booting 
it. Sooner or later, they can bypass *any* protection you devise. Reset 
the BIOS password, etc.

But with an encrypted filesystem, even if they can boot the 'top, they 
cannot read the data unless they have or crack the key. Using a password 
to unlock the encryption has the problem of being much more easily 
crackable than say, a 1024+ bit DSA key, but has the advantage of being 
less likely to be left in the floppy or CDROM drive of the laptop *when* 
it is stolen.


-- 
Josh Glover <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>

Associate Systems Administrator
INCOGEN, Inc.

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