A proximity based computer access system is provided. According to the invention, a local key associated with a workstation wirelessly communicates with a local key which is associated with a user. If the user, and remote key, are outside of a preset radius of the workstation, access to the workstation is disabled. Accordingly, a workstation is secured from unauthorized access when an authorized user is not nearby. The present invention allows organizations to efficiently secure sensitive data from unauthorized access while reducing the requirements of users to manually enable and disable access to the sensitive data through the workstation.