fingerprint conundrum

[Jeff]

I have a new laptop which is fitted with a fingerprint login scanner. I
thought it was a cute feature but now see it as a security risk and am
looking for ways to mitigate it. (copy of fingerprints taken from elsewhere
on the surface of the notebook, etc.).

I suspect the best way is to disable it is through its options because it
can only be re-enabled after an administrator has already logged in.

Is that enough or would there still be a way to bypass the BIOS password?

Not really paranoid but just curious. Originally I thought it might be a net
feature, but am no longer so sure. This is just a personal notebook PC but
I do carry financial data in it in separate encrypted form (not Microsoft's
XP encryption).

Jeff

 

[Steven L Umbach]

If your data is safely encrypted I would not worry about it if the
encryption requires access to a key stored on a USB device or such. Proper
encryption is the only way to protect data as an attacker will simply remove
your hard drive to try and access data from outside the operating system.

Steve