HP is continuing its campaign against possible IT threats, especially "visual hacking." To help combat the problem, HP unveiled what it claims as the world's only PCs with integrated privacy screens.

The integrated privacy screen comes to the HP EliteBook 840 and EliteBook 1040 as an optional feature called HP Sure View. By pressing the f2 key, the computer will enter privacy mode, which limits the visible light up to 95 percent when the screen is viewed at an angle and thereby, preventing prying eyes from seeing on-screen information.

"The addition of HP Sure View to our PC security solutions helps address the risks associated with visual hacking and gives customers the freedom to work more confidently and productively in public spaces," says Alex Cho, HP's vice president and general manager for commercial PCs.

HP developed HP Sure View with 3M privacy technology. Note that this is the same company that HP collaborated with to produce the privacy filters.

"HP Sure View helps address the concern of protecting sensitive information," says Makoto Ishii, 3M's vice president and general manager for the display materials and systems division.

According to a 2015 Ponemon Institute study titled "Global Cost of Cybercrime," which was sponsored by Hewlett Packard Enterprise, data breaches cost large-sized organizations an average of $7.7 million.

A more recent Ponemon Institute study titled "Global Visual Hacking Experiment" (PDF) reveals that 91 percent of visual hacking attempts succeed. Moreover, roughly four kinds of private information get visually hacked in each attempt.

HP also associates employee productivity with visual hacking since 60 percent of them bring work outside of their offices. HP points to a 3M-sponsored study that found that employees who work in close proximity to others can be two times as productive when using a visual privacy solution.

Analysts say that the health care, security and finance industries, as well as the public sector are some of the possible immediate markets for the HP Sure View. HP says that integrating the privacy screen into the computer, as opposed to mounting them in front of the display, leads to better compliance with each company's regulatory requirements.

Aside from the optional integrated privacy screens, both the mentioned HP EliteBooks come with fingerprint scanners and facial authentication for additional device security.

HP expects that the HP Sure View will be available starting September for the HP EliteBook 840 as well the non-touch and full HD touch versions of EliteBook 1040. The EliteBook 840 currently retails for $949 while the Elitebook 1040 is currently listed at $1,297.

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