What Are the Best Laptop Theft Recovery Measures? 376
BarlowBrad writes "Yesterday my house was broken into and among other things two laptops were stolen. Getting past the feeling of violation, I am looking to the future and how to both prevent theft and recover computers should it happen again. I have found various services that claim to track and recover stolen laptops such as LoJack for Laptops, Computrace, GadgetTrak and Undercover, but I (obviously) have no experience with any of them. I also know that Intel will be coming out with a new anti-theft technology chip, but that isn't supposed to come out until the fourth quarter and I'll be replacing the laptops before then. Does Slashdot have a recommendation between these services or suggestions for another?" Read on for a related question about automating this process.
BarlowBrad continues: "I have also wondered if there is a 'home brew' solution that I could cook up myself. I'm not an elite programmer, but I am somewhat computer savvy and open to ideas. At least one of the replacement laptops will have to be a Windows machine, but the other may be a Mac or run Linux, so ideally I'd want a solution for multiple platforms. Perhaps a script that sends an email with the IP address every time the computer connects to the internet? Or is there already something out there like that in the Open Source community?"
Explosives... (Score:2, Informative)
For Your Eyes Only [imdb.com] I think.
Re:There are a few solutions (Score:2, Informative)
PARENT POST LINKS TO MALWARE (Score:4, Informative)
Computrace (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Laptop Stolen by Baggage Handlers (Score:1, Informative)
Dynamic Waste of Time (Score:5, Informative)
Recent products like Computrace/LoJack (same product, different brands) can be installed in the BIOS so a disk wipe doesn't affect them. The catch is that it has to be installed at the factory, so you have to buy the security software (and an annual subscription) when you buy a new laptop. Also, it isn't that hard to reflash a BIOS....
I shouldn't need to point out that you should also have a bare-metal recovery backup. In fact, that's probably more important than any anti-theft measure: paying $1K for a new laptop hurts, but not as much as losing all the work that's on your laptop. A bare-metal solution spares you the hassle of re-installing all your applications and re-applying all the customizations we geeks love to do.
It's too bad that Lojack for Laptops isn't (Score:5, Informative)
The real Lojack system, for cars, predates the Internet and GPS. It's pretty good. About 90% of Lojack-equipped cars are recovered when stolen. When you buy Lojack, an installer comes out and installs a little box somewhere on your car. You don't know where, and they have many alternative locations. It gets power from the car, so it keeps itself charged.
The unit finds an FM broadcast station with the Lojack subcarrier and listens for a message with its serial number. If your car is stolen in an area with Lojack coverage (which includes most major US cities), a police stolen car report is copied to Lojack's computers, which then tell the subcarrier transmitter at the broadcast stations to start broadcasting messages with the unit's serial number. The unit in the car then starts emitting a beacon signal.
Lojack has good integration with big-city police departments. They equip police cars with Lojack receivers at Lojack's expense. Any Lojack receiver that's emitting turns on indicators in police cars, showing direction and approximate range. When you see a police car with four antennas in a square on the roof, that car has a Lojack receiver.
In Los Angeles, the LAPD's air force, both rotary and fixed-wing, has Lojack receivers. This has resulted in some dramatic stolen car recoveries. [wsati.org] Cops like the system, because not only do they get cars back, they often find someone they want driving the stolen car.
But "Lojack for Laptops" doesn't use that system. It just reports IP addresses when the unit connects to the Internet. A company called Absolute Software seems to have just licensed the Lojack name; it's apparently not part of Lojack Corporation at all.
We had that before (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Explosives... (Score:3, Informative)
I was thinking more like embedded impalers. You put your hands over the keyboard and it reads your prints using sensors in every key. If you don't match, it gives a warning beep, and if you don't discontinue use, five seconds later, steel spikes shoot up from between the keys and impale your hands. The spikes may be tipped with a poison of your choice if so desired....
But seriously, no theft protection system will really work. The best you can do is encrypt anything you don't want anyone else to get their hands on and never store the password in any sort of keychain that could be compromised more easily than the key strength of your crypto key. If the crooks are dumb, you can have a script that takes a five second video and emails it to you account every time the computer wakes or something, but all they have to do is yank the battery, boot from a CD, and wipe the drive. Even if you make it so they can't use the machine (BIOS/OF/EFI password), at best they'll part it out or toss it in a dumpster. Either way, once it is stolen, chances are you're not getting it back no matter what you do.
And cables don't do crap. If you've never broken out the tabs that hold them... let's just say the slots aren't particularly secure. And the cables themselves can be cut even more easily, locks picked, etc.
The best you can really do is never leave a laptop in a conspicuous place, don't live in a neighborhood with a high crime rate, install and regularly use a burglar alarm, and buy a Pit Bull/Doberman/Rottweiler/German Shepherd....
Re:Nonstandard Look might help (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Laptop Stolen by Baggage Handlers (Score:2, Informative)
Get a Cheap Laptop (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Dynamic Waste of Time (Score:5, Informative)
One thing we found out from experience is you want to followup with Absolute and make sure the machine is calling in daily, or whenever it's on (it tries once a day). If the machine is stolen but it hasn't been called in for 30 days or more, the recovery guarantee is not in place. They'll still try and recover it, but they won't give you the $1000 or whatever if it's not found. Also, you have the option to void the recovery guarantee and instead have a "data delete" option, so that any sensitive data on the machine is wiped with the hard drive.
I've never seen a statistic on wiping the BIOS, but I'd be willing to be it'd be more difficult than beneficial. Besides, if someone's going to be so thorough to wipe the BIOS, they know the software is on there, and will be taking steps to avoid it getting it's beacon out to the net.
Disclaimer: I have no relationship with Absolute (Computrace) other than I am a paying customer.
Re:And then what? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:There are a few solutions (Score:2, Informative)
Dual strategy (Score:3, Informative)
The
2) make the laptop unattractive to thieves
Have your name and address engraved on several parts of the housing and lid. Or have some metal or plastic tags engraved and bond them securely to case and lid (or even to the screen). This will make the tags impossible to remove without replacing the case (or the lcd). This will make the laptop harder to resell.
Re:Explosives... (Score:2, Informative)
And cables don't do crap. If you've never broken out the tabs that hold them... let's just say the slots aren't particularly secure. And the cables themselves can be cut even more easily, locks picked, etc.
The point of cables is to stop someone from grabbing your laptop and sprinting out the door of the coffee shop, not to secure it when you're not there.
Re:And then what? (Score:3, Informative)
That said, I have a friend who's LoJack secured laptop was stolen. He was under the impression that his computer was guaranteed up to $1,000 because it had LoJack on it. Turns out that since the thief didn't connect it to the internet within 30 days of stealing it, the guarantee didn't apply.
While I do think your odds of recovering a laptop are significantly improved if you pay the $50/year for LoJack, I agree that the more practical solution is to encrypt your hard drive, back up your data, and save the rest for a replacement.
Re:Explosives... (Score:3, Informative)
First, I've got an independent insurance policy on my computers to cover the cost of any stolen hardware. This is important for the following steps.
Second, I keep a repository of my data in at least two locations. The primary location is a 'server' in my home that is nothing more than a disk on the LAN. The second location is a pair of USB/Firewire hard disks that I rotate between work and home roughly every week (whenever I feel like it, really).
Third, the data on my laptop is kept to a minimum. The data I DO keep on there is of so little value to others since nothing personally identifiable is kept on there.
In the event of a theft, I simply report it to the police to generate a report, file a claim with my insurance company with that report, and buy a new laptop. Then I can simply pull the data I need out of my storage 'server'. Total downtime would be anywhere between a few hours to a few days (depending on whether or not I choose to build a laptop from an online vendor or simply buy from local store stock).
The added benefit is that the policies I take out on my hardware covers damage. No more arguing with the goons in tech support about repair or replacement costs since it's covered under my own policy. Should the repair facility lose or destroy my system, that's also covered. The lawyers for the insurance company will be quick and/or painful in getting things moving if they have to pay out a claim.
It helps that I don't lug my laptop around and crack it open everywhere I go. It goes to work with me and is used in the car for long-haul GPS duties when the wife and I go on vacation. Other than that, it's used around the house by both me and my wife to check mail and surf. It does NOT go to Starbucks or any other public location unless it's truly needed, like when the office calls and I need to connect via VPN.
To sum up: An ounce of (theft) prevention is worth a pound of (recovery) cure. Second, if you must lug your laptop everywhere you go, get your own insurance policy on it. Third, limit your potential losses by keeping only the data you MUST have on it.
Follow those guidelines, and you'll have much fewer headaches and/or ulcers.