Everdream Recovers Stolen Data

Everdream, a remote desktop management service provider, introduced a managed service that remotely erases or encrypts sensitive data on stolen laptops.

Several recent high-profile incidents in which mobile workers’ notebook PCs containing sensitive data were stolen have sparked customer interest in stronger data protection, said Ed Mueller, chief marketing officer for Everdream, Fremont, Calif., which was launched during the dot.com era.

For example, last month a notebook belonging to Fidelity Investments that contained social security numbers and other data on 196,000 current and former Hewlett-Packard employees was stolen from Fidelity employees who had brought the machine to an off-site meeting.

Everdream’s Theft Recovery Managed Service works through a software agent that’s installed on a notebook or desktop PC and communicates in the background with the vendor’s control center. If a PC is stolen, the customer notifies Everdream and the company sends out a command to either encrypt or delete the data stored on the machine the next time it connects to the Internet, Mueller said.

“Someone could be going through a document on the stolen PC and it would literally disappear before their eyes,” Mueller said. As part of the service, Everdream notifies local law enforcement of the stolen machine’s IP address to assist in tracking, he added.

Michael Cooch, CEO of Boston-based solution provider Everon, said laptops comprise about 35 percent of the assets he manages for customers. “Rolling out this service will be an easy proposition because it hits on a compelling issue that many of our customers are concerned about,” said Cooch, who expects to see margins of about 40 percent on the theft recovery service.

The service costs $6 monthly per PC and is only available to existing Everdream customers with a subscription to its asset management, software distribution, virus protection, online backup and patch management services, although the service may eventually be offered as a stand-alone product.