Content area
Full Text
ST. PAUL, Minn. - Marc Tobias played laptop thief one recent evening, showing how easily several leading anti-theft devices can be defeated using such simple materials as a ball point pen barrel, a thin piece of plastic or rolled-up cardboard.
Such news is sure to set off alarm bells at corporations and on college campuses at a time when portable sales have outpaced desktop- computer sales and laptop security is a hot issue. This has made locks made by companies like Kensington and Targus commonplace.
But, according to Tobias, a Sioux Falls, S.D., attorney and lock expert, some of the leading lock models have near-fatal design flaws that make them absurdly easy to pick.
The devices' vulnerabilities vary widely. But Tobias demonstrated these often can be exploited in short order. A Knight Ridder Newspapers reporter replicated two of Tobias' procedures using Kensington and Targus locks the newspaper purchased independently.
Tobias' bottom line: While laptop locks costing less than $50 aren't intended to be burglar-proof, the ease with which leading models can be defeated seemingly contradicts makers' claims that the locks offer a reasonable deterrent.
Tobias' revelations, documented on his Web site www.securi ty.org, come as Targus and other firms are marketing...