(EN) Techniques for securing a client. An operating system agent is one or more software modules that execute in an operating system of a client, such as a portable computer. Portions of the operating system agent may monitor resources of the client. The operating system agent sends a message, which describes an operational state of the operating system agent, to a BIOS agent. The BIOS agent is one or more software modules operating in a BIOS of the client. The BIOS agent performs an action based on a policy that is described by policy data stored within the BIOS of the client. The BIOS agent performs the action in response to either (a) the operational state described by the message, or (b) the BIOS agent not receiving the message after an expected period of time.
