ComputraceOne Questions and Answers

Computrace Product Overview

What is ComputraceOne?

Computrace®One™ provides Computer Theft Recovery, Data Protection and Secure IT Asset Management.

The product is centrally managed by your IT department, and designed for customers with remote and mobile users. In the area of computer theft, the product deters theft, minimises computer drift and recovers stolen computers. If your computer is stolen, the Absolute Recovery Team works with law enforcement to track and recover it.

The remote data deletion function (“Data Delete”) enables customers to remotely delete sensitive data on target computers that have been stolen or lost. It can also be used for lifecycle management to ensure that computers are left clean and free of sensitive data at the end of their life or lease.

For IT asset management, ComputraceOne gives IT staffvisibility to up to 100% of their connected computer assets, including the 40% of computerassets that Gartner Group says are unaccounted for at any given point in time.

How does ComputraceOne remotely track and protect computers?

ComputraceOne tracks the location of your computer using a small and undetectable software agent (“ComputraceOne Agent”), enabling the computer to report its location to Absolute’s confidential and secure Monitoring Centre each day it connects to the Internet.

As well as collecting location data, the ComputraceOne Agent also collects user, hardwareand software information to help you track and manage your remote assets. You can also
set up a Data Delete request so that sensitive data on a stolen or missing computer is deleted the next time the computer calls in to the Monitoring Centre.

How do I view information about my computer assets?

Users (typically IT departments) are able to view various asset management modules via Absolute’s online Customer Centre website (“Customer Centre”). These modules (or reports) allow IT to better enable their organisation in the area of IT Asset Management.

How does ComputraceOne work?

The ComputraceOne technology is more than just software – it’s like having your own security team watching over your computer. Here’s how it works:

• The ComputraceOne agent can be pre-installed by the computer manufacturer duringthe factory imaging process or alternatively you can use an MSI installer, login scripts, imaging or other deployment methods - it’s easy and secure. The client software is small, stealthy and hidden on the computer.
• Your computer reports location, user, hardware and software information to Absolute Software's confidential, secure Monitoring Centre every day it connects to the Internet.
• You track and manage your computer assets, including remote/mobile computers, using reports, alerts and administration functions from the secure Customer Centre website.
• If your computer is lost or stolen, Absolute Software's full-service Recovery Team works with local law enforcement agencies to track and recover it.
• There is an optional Data Delete function that can be performed on your stolen computer to keep sensitive data from falling into the wrong hands.
  (For further details, see the Data Delete section.)

Computrace Agent

Can the ComputraceOne Agent be removed?

The ComputraceOne Agent is extremely difficult to remove. The ComputraceOne software incorporates a self-healing technology that we call “persistence”, which essentially rebuilds the agent software installation even if the agent service is deleted by conventional means.

The self-healing function is not resident within the file system and is more difficult to detect and remove than “normal” software. The persistent and self-healing portion of the software is difficult to remove because it is stealthy.

The software is normally removed only by an authorised user with the correct password. The self-healing feature will repair a ComputraceOne installation in newly formatted and installed operating systems as well as freshly imaged systems. This “persistent” design is maximised in laptops with the persistence module in the firmware.

What needs to be in place for the agent to be persistent?

There are two levels of persistence for the ComputraceOne agent. The highest level of persistence occurs when the persistent module is embedded into the firmware of the computer. In this solution, there is no additional hardware or software configuration needed for the agent to be persistent.

Computers that do not have the ComputraceOne agent embedded into the firmware will have the software version of the persistence module installed in the partition gap on the hard drive.

Can the ComputraceOne Agent be detected?

The ComputraceOne Agent is very difficult to detect. The ComputraceOne software runs as a non-descript service, and is not listed as an application. As well, the product does not show up on the programs menu listing or as a system tray icon.

What is the footprint, or size, of the agent?

The ComputraceOne agent has a very small footprint, requiring less than 100KB of disk space.

Will the agent degrade our network, or clog it up?

ComputraceOne agent communications require very little bandwidth and should have a negligible effect on your network traffic. A typical agent call requires less than 200KB of bandwidth.

Is the agent easy to install?

The ComputraceOne agent is pre-installed by the computer manufacturer during the factory imaging process. If the software does need to be installed manually it is very easy to install as the installer is a standard Microsoft MSI install package. The agent can also be easily installed on a corporate image or deployed using standard deployment tools such as Active Directory or logon scripts.

Is there a special version of ComputraceOne that I need to buy to take advantage of the BIOS-based agent on laptops?

No. All current versions of ComputraceOne will support the BIOS based agent.

Want to know more?

if you have any further questions or would like to order this product please contact us or you can call 01275 588600 to discuss your requirements further.