The snoop-proof laptop
Now Noble and graduate student Mark Corner have come up with a high-security system for the slothful. The system protects data by automatically scrambling it the moment users walk away, then quickly restoring it upon their return.
Called
Zero-Interaction Authentication, or ZIA, the system requires laptop owners to wear a small device or token – in this case a wristwatch equipped with a processor and short-range wireless link to communicate with the laptop. When the token moves out of range, ZIA re-encrypts information on the laptop within five seconds, before someone else can gain access to it. When the laptop detects that the token has come back within range, the system decrypts the information within six seconds.
