IBM boosts ThinkPad's security
Zatni Arbi, Contributor, Jakarta
Take a close look at the accompanying picture.
Hopefully you can see it. It's a tiny scanner on the right part of the palmrest, just above the IBM logo. It is the only thing that visually differentiates the T42 from the T40 that I have been using for more than a year now.
Of course, there are other differences under the hood. The processor I found on this Centrino notebook, which was lent to me by IBM Indonesia, was an Intel Pentium M 1.7 MHz. It is 400 MHz faster than my T40. It now also supports Gigabit Ethernet.
The rest is basically the same. There are two PC-Card slots, two USB slots, an S-Video jack, a parallel port (for those who have not got rid of their old printers), an infrared port, a video port for an external display or a digital projector, a pleasing 14.1-inch screen and Wi-Fi. Oops, T42 now supports 802.11g in addition to 802.11b.
Other amenities include the ThinkLight, TrackPoint and UltraNav pointing device. The keyboard, battery and, of course, the color are unchanged.
Security getting more sophisticated We all know how important passwords are. We use passwords for authentication so that other people cannot access our bank accounts, our confidential data, our private correspondence, etc.
However, as my daughter has just found out, passwords can be stolen. Suddenly she was denied access to all of her e-mail accounts. Apparently, one of her friends had watched her as she typed in her user name and password, and then changed the latter without her knowledge.
So, passwords -- despite all the good things that they do for you -- can create headaches. You have to memorize them. In some organizations, people have to change their passwords on a regular basis. The joke is that some of them get so fed up with the task that they simply write down the passwords on Post-it notes and then stick them to the bezel of their computer monitors.
Then there was the smartcard. You could not access your computer unless you inserted your smart card into the machine's card reader. This was implemented in a number of notebooks. The first notebook with a smartcard-based authentication system that I tested was Siemens-Nixdorf's Scenic Mobile 800. Acer later launched its notebook models with a built-in smartcard reader. Other notebook vendors soon followed suit.
The trouble with smartcards is that you may lose them, leave them at home or expose them to a very strong magnetic field that wipes all the data stored inside them. And, on top of it all, they still require you to enter your passwords.
Biometrics is the solution that is gaining popularity. Each of us has unique fingerprints, unique palm lines and unique retina shapes. We carry these unique ID features with us. The fingerprint authentication that IBM has implemented in the ThinkPad T42 is a great example of what biometrics can do.
Swipe your finger Each time you turn on the T42, it will ask you to swipe your finger over the tiny scanner. The reader does a good job. Most of the time, if I move my finger vertically across the scanner, the scan compares well with the image of my fingerprint that I stored during the setup.
By the way, the software asks you to store the print from at least two different fingers when you first set it up. That is a good idea, as otherwise you would not be able to use the notebook if your finger happened to be wrapped in a Band-Aid.
What if you cannot use your fingers at all? What if, for instance, you have to ask someone at home to start the notebook and read an important note for you over the phone while you are working in the office?
All he will have to do is press Ctrl-Alt-Del. The system will ask for a password instead of a finger swipe. You can give the password over the phone.
Gory as it may sound, a severed finger may not be usable. The reason is that the fingerprint sensor also measures the electrical characteristics in your fingers.
The fingerprint authentication system is a great security measure. The scanner and the software are reliable. Although I did not exercise great care in storing my fingerprint, it has never locked me out. It did not let any unauthorized person in, either.
All in all, IBM ThinkPad T42 is another great notebook. My only wish is that IBM would put the two USB 2.0 ports a little bit farther away from each other.
As I have experienced in my T40, it is difficult to plug a thumb drive and an external mouse at the same time because the ports are too close to each other.
My solution was to buy a USB hub, which cost me Rp 250,000 -- not a bad investment, as it was a hub with four USB ports.