Lock System when certain hardware is removed

Question

I am working at a company where you are supposed to lock your screen whenever you leave your desk alone for a few minutes. Now I wondered if there is a nifty little tool that would lock my screen once a certain device is removed from the system.

The ideal thing would of course be to have a short-range transmitter that causes the screen to be locked once it goes out of range. But for now I would also stick with removing a pen-drive from my laptop.

I am pretty sure this is feasible. I just want to know if there are any existing projects.

Answer 1

Systems with smart cards, such as the Common Access Card, are often set up to lock automatically when the card is removed from the reader. Technet claims a cost of $20/reader and $5/card, but I'm sure that depends on quantities. You'll need to be able to edit the local or group policy settings in order to obtain this behavior.

Answer 2

KDE has a tool that automatically locks the computer when your bluetooth device gets out of range. I'm sure there are similar tools for Windows, too. The disadvantage is that you have to leave bluetooth on on your mobile phone (or whatever else you keep in your pocket).

But anyway, the simplest is just to type Win+L when you leave. It's not more complicated than removing your pendrive, especially if you want to remove your pendrive safely.

Answer 3

I haven't tried it, but this looks like what you are looking for: http://www.digitus.info/en/products/accessories/?c=1215&p=3578

The computer automatically enters "Lock Mode", when the user is away from the computer

The computer automatically resumes to normal operation when the user is back to the non secure area