Final answer:
Remote management tools can report on a machine's state and help locate it if reconnected to a network, but do not secure the data it contains. For data protection, encryption and password protection are required.
Step-by-step explanation:
The blank in the question "Remote management tools are useful for reporting machine state and might even help locate a machine if it was reconnected to a network, but it does not protect the data a machine contains." could be filled with remote management tools. These tools are designed to provide administrators with the ability to monitor and manage systems remotely. Although such tools can report on a machine's status and possibly aid in locating it if it has been stolen and then reconnected to the Internet, they do not inherently secure the data on the device. For protecting data, technologies like encryption and password protection are essential. Encryption ensures that data is unreadable without the correct key, while password protection restricts access to the machine itself.