Thrill of the Kill Switch
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When
Steve Jobs unveiled enterprise-level capability for the iPhone, it was one more
major erasure mark in the blurry line between consumer and enterprise
technology.
But it
wasn't just the gadget's ability to tap into the widely used functions of
Exchange 2007 that made it more friendly for corporate environments -- also
notable, if somewhat unsung, is the phone's remote data removal capability,
accessed through Exchange, a feature that is becoming more and more crucial in
an era of remote workers.
Although
this type of functionality has been available for years, it's likely to become
a must-have for IT departments, and gadget and software developers that refrain
from including it could be passed over in favor of those who've taken the time
to ensure data can be removed from a device, no matter where it is.
"This
feature, of wiping out data, is gaining momentum because even through the
opportunistic thief might not be interested in the data, the second or third
owner might be," says Cam Roberson, director of marketing at Beachhead
Solutions, developer of data destruction and encryption products.
According
to
IDC, nearly 60 percent of corporate
data on desktop and laptop computers is unprotected. Encryption has become far
more widespread than in the past, but data destruction has become a viable
option as well.
Security measures tend to be tricky when remote workers have
their passwords in a visible spot, such as in an accessible file on the laptop
or
PDA -- some IT managers have noted,
with much eye-rolling, that they've seen employee computers with easily-located
Word documents labeled "passwords."
