Office of the Chief Information Officer Press Release
The University of Georgia
Athens, Georgia

Monday, July 23, 2007

WRITER: Bert DeSimone, 706/542-5359, bert@uga.edu
CONTACT: Stanton Gatewood, 706/425-3163, gate@uga.edu

Office of the CIO brings "Absolute" protection for computer resources and sensitive data to UGA

ATHENS, Ga.— Information Technology Contracts and Licensing Administration, a unit within the Office of the CIO, in cooperation with UGA's chief information security officer and the UGA Procurement Office, has negotiated a state contract with information security vendor Absolute Software. Absolute Software Corporation is a leading provider in computer theft recovery, data protection, and secure assets tracking.

"Absolute Software gives us an added layer of defense and protection for our mobile resources," said Stanton Gatewood, UGA's chief information security officer. "We are increasingly a mobile society and need to stay in communications with laptop and tablet devices. Absolute Software helps us protect our investment in mobile technology—no matter the location."

The protection that Gatewood refers to is a suite of software services from Absolute called Computrace. UGA faculty and staff can purchase the software at significant savings over the standard retail cost. The software is also available to all University System of Georgia institutions and Georgia state agencies through this contract at reduced cost.

Computrace includes three major components and is offered as Computrace Data Protection for UGA and Computrace Complete for University System of Georgia institutions and Georgia State Agencies.

"Both Data Protection and Complete include Assets Tracking and Data Delete services for lost or stolen devices," said Gatewood. "The major difference in the UGA version on the non-UGA version is the Theft Recovery service. The UGA version includes UGA Police Department assistance in the recovery of a list asset. The non-UGA requires the use of Absolute's theft recovery officers."

The three services are further described as follows:

1. Assets Tracking. Real-time tracking of mobile assets connected to an internal network or the Internet, with reporting capability. Also includes audit logs that can verify what sensitive information was lost or stolen, its encryption status, and the last known location of the mobile asset.
2. Data Delete. Removal of data, including sensitive data, from a lost of stolen laptop or other mobile device. Once removed, the data cannot be recovered by any means.
3. Theft Recovery. At the University of Georgia, the UGA Police Department will assist in recovery of a lost or stolen laptop or other mobile device. The UGA Police Department will also communicate with state law enforcement as necessary to trace and track protected assets. Non-UGA entities will have access to Absolute's theft recovery service to recover lost or stolen devices.

Computrace also addresses a stated component of UGA's Securing Sensitive Data Initiative. In an administrative memorandum from the University's senior vice presidents to deans, vice presidents, and other administrators, "implementation of security technologies and best practices for protecting and reducing risk for compromise of systems and servers" was a specific action item.

Computrace is currently available to faculty and staff only; however, negotiations are under way to offer the software to students and can be used with both Windows and Macintosh computers.

To order Computrace, please see:

http://www.busfin.uga.edu/procurement/pdf/absolute_software.pdf

About the Office of the CIO and EITS
The Office of the Chief Information Officer and Enterprise Information Technology Services (EITS) are committed to the mission of UGA as a land-and-sea-grant institution where academics come first and the research extensive university community encourages research efforts at the undergraduate and graduate levels. To that end, under the direction of the University´s Chief Information Officer, EITS endeavors to provide a robust, reliable, and secure information technology infrastructure, maintain essential production services, and offer world-class support.