Solagent Secure Plus - Apr/May '02

Solagent Secure Plus

You are about to go to trial, you have spent months on the case and feel confident. The depositions, witness statements, transcripts and all types of demonstrative evidence exhibits are loaded on your laptop. You are the true electronic litigator, and then disaster strikes — your laptop is stolen. What do you do? Besides having backed the files on some type of media (you have done that, right?) you still need the material, and can’t let anyone have access to those files. With a software application from Solagent, you can prevent unauthorized access to your files and even have some of it returned to you.

Solagent has developed a security application for your computer, Solagent Secure Plus. It works on a desktop, but the usefulness comes from its mobile application. The program allows you to modify and alter files remotely through the Internet. For example, when your machine is stolen, Secure Plus allows you to remotely encrypt, retrieve or wipe (permanently destroyed) files on your hard drive. It also has functionality that allows you to track IP (Internet Protocol) addresses to locate the machine or shut it down completely. A screen-blocking feature also can be initialized remotely that prevents access to your desktop.

How it works is relatively straightforward. After registration, the user accesses the Solagent application from the Internet and downloads an agent to the laptop. The agent is an application that works in the background and is not seen by the user. It’s actually difficult to locate on your machine by a non-expert, but it provides most of the functionality of the program.

You configure your system preferences when first accessing the Solagent Web site. At the security customization screen, the user selects which files can be encrypted or wiped. Solagent has a standard listing of the most commonly used files (i.e., Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.), but you can customize the listing to include almost any file type. Customization is accomplished though the file extensions such as “.doc.” At this screen, you also can identify which files you want to be retrieved by Solagent if your machine is reported stolen. These files are encrypted locally and moved to the Solagent servers for safekeeping.

Once activated and customized, this agent checks into the Solagent server every 60 minutes to receive security instructions. If the agent doesn’t receive any special instructions from the server, then it does nothing. If, however, the agent is notified that your laptop was reported stolen, the agent performs its security activities.

Also, if your computer can’t check in or isn’t connected to the Internet, you can program the system to activate the screen blocking feature.

I installed Solagent on an IBM ThinkPad running Windows 2000 and had no installation problems. I ran all of the tests including uploading and encrypting/decrypting files without a problem. The reports were also easy to access and read. Security programs are often difficult to configure or understand. I did not have this difficulty with Solagent.

This application is useful for attorneys who want to protect their files, but it probably will not protect against a dedicated computer data thief.

There are a few other problems. The first, and most glaring problem is someone could steal your laptop, but if they don’t access the Internet with your computer, then almost none of Solagent’s protections will be utilized. The screen blocking feature will be initialized if you program that option, but a dedicated computer hacker can probably get around that feature. Also, this program is backward thinking. Why wait until a computer is stolen to protect your files. You should always be proactive and backup your files, use a firewall and have a file level password for the most sensitive files. A hard drive password might be useful also. This type of password will lock up your hard drive if incorrectly entered. It also can be set to wipe your hard drive if there is unauthorized access.

Another difficulty for attorney use is that we are often creating and modifying many documents a week, if you don’t want to retrieve all of a document type such as all “.docs.” you will have to tell Solagent which individual files to encrypt or wipe. This might become burdensome.

This is a good program for basic file level protection. For the price, I would recommend it as a security application. Solagent also recently released versions for the Macintosh, BlackBerry and Windows CE.

Solagent
(800) 229-8661
www.solagent.com

Price: $9.95 per year for Solagent Secure; $39.95 per year or $66.95 for two years for Solagent Secure Plus (adds file retrieval, wiping, screen blocking and remote shutdown/restart); call company for Enterprise Edition pricing

Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP, Macintosh, Windows CE, Palm OS, BlackBerry

Reviewed by Adam Nelson Esq., an attorney based in Chicago.

Apr/May '02 Issue

PROS
Ease of Use. It does what is advertised.

CONS
Needs Internet access to use almost all of the functionality.

VERDICT
It’s a good start for securing your laptop, but can’t ensure complete file security.