Patent ID: 7975034

Claim:
A computer-implemented method to secure data and hardware associated with a computing device, the method comprising: Executing, by a processor of the computing device a reporting program; receiving, by the processor, a request to initiate a secondary operating system, wherein the secondary operating system isolated from a primary operating system by a partition; Determining, by the processor, whether the partition isolating the secondary operating system has been altered; upon determining that the partition isolating the secondary operating system has been altered, recording, by the reporting program, information regarding the altering of the partition to a remote server within a predetermined period of time defined by a connectivity timer, denying, by the processor, the request to initiate the secondary operating system and preventing the initiation of the primary operating system; Determining, by the connectivity timer, whether a connection over a network has been established between the reporting program and the remote server within a predetermined period of time; and Upon determining that the connection over the network has not been established between the reporting program and the remote server within the predetermined period of time, disabling, by the processor, at least one function of the computing device.