"contained proprietary information that could be valuable to foreign governments." Kinda interesting statement about a telecoms machine. Foreign govts? PC with Corporate Secrets Disappears Qualcomm Chiefs Laptop Taken from Podium Sept. 18, 2000 IRVINE, Calif. (AP) -- The personal portable computer of Qualcomm Inc.s chief executive officer, which apparently contained valuable company secrets, disappeared from a hotel conference room moments after he addressed a national business journalists meeting. Irwin Jacobs left the computer unattended on a podium or an adjoining table in the Hyatt Regency-Irvine ballroom on Saturday for 15-20 minutes when he stepped down to talk to a small group after addressing about 90 members of the Society of American Business Editors and Writers. Proprietary information Jacobs told people at the conference that the IBM laptop, which he had used for a slide show-type presentation focusing on Qualcomms wireless telecommunications technology, contained proprietary information that could be valuable to foreign governments. Qualcomm is a leader in wireless technology -- a boom market of the burgeoning telecommunications revolution -- with $3.9 billion in revenues last year. It designs and produces chips for wireless communications devices and holds hundreds of patents whose royalties provide it with the bulk of its earnings. SABEWs president Byron Calame, deputy managing editor of The Wall Street Journal, expressed sorrow at the event and noted that people with access to the area "included registrants, exhibitors and guests at our conference, hotel staff and perhaps others." Very disturbing "Its very disturbing to him," company spokeswoman Christine Trimble said of the 66-year-old Jacobs, Qualcomms chairman and founder. Jacobs, whose company is based in nearby San Diego, had driven to the conference with his wife and without any security. Trimble would not discuss details of the apparent theft except to confirm that the laptop was used by Jacobs for "business purposes." Company officials would not say whether Jacobs had contacted the FBI. "The FBI was never called that were aware of," said Irvine police desk officer Sgt. Tim Smith. "We took it as a straight laptop theft, which is pretty typical for a hotel." However, several attendees at the SABEW conference said they noticed three unattended laptops shortly after the theft as they passed through an adjoining exhibitors room. "It doesnt seem (Jacobs laptop) would be the obvious choice if the individual was looking for an easy target," noted Shawn Abbott, chief technical officer of computer security company Rainbow Technologies. Just 30 feet away Jacobs and about a half-dozen journalists were no further than 30 feet from his laptop when it disappeared. More than 100 reporters and editors from across the nation attended SABEWs 4th annual technology conference, a two-day event that ended Sunday. Trimble said the laptop, valued at about $4,000, was password protected and the data was backed up on a computer at Qualcomms San Diego headquarters. However, password-protected computers running Windows operating systems, as Jacobs was, can be easily be broken into. The level of security on Jacobs laptop could not be determined. Qualcomm is the worlds leading developer of a technology known as CDMA, which seems to have won the global battle to become the standard technology for making high-speed Internet access available on wireless devices. Wireless technologies Those so-called third-generation wireless technologies are expected to connect the Internet to handhelds and other devices in the next few years -- initially in the Far East and Europe. Those markets are considered to have a potential value in the tens of billions of dollars, as everything from cars to airplanes are equipped with broadband wireless connections. If security on Jacobs laptop was limited only to password protection _ rather than a more advanced encryption scheme -- "its extremely unlikely that it will take any more than removing the hard drive and hooking it up to another computer to read all the files," Abbott said. http://www.apbnews.com/newscenter/breakingnews/2000/09/18/qualcomm0918_01.ht...