What Are the Best Laptop Theft Recovery Measures?

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?"

Re:Recovery, Not. Denial, Maybe.

[alanshot]

You would be surprised. Cops LOVE computrace. The know that generally when they go to find a laptop using this service, they will find OTHER criminal activity in the process.

One example computrace boasts is the chop shop that was inadvertantly raided thanks to a computrace recovery.

Besides, Computrace makes it easy on the cops. they get directions to the loot. No real investigative hassle on thier part.

Re:DIY solution

[MikeUW]

I would think that for this to work like you say, ten you'd have to make it relatively easy to login and access your desktop. I'm generally not interested in leaving my computer wide open for anyone to mess around with (i.e., it's not just theft of the computer I'm protecting against). Anyone savvy enough to get past the login is probably also intelligent enough to at least wipe the drive before connecting to the Internet, so ssh/cronjobs, or whatever probably will not help much. The best thing is to make sure sensitive data are stored in encrypted files, and keep backups in a separate location. In fact, icebike's summary further down pretty much sums it up nicely.

Re:DIY solution

[icebike]

Oh, come on, neither of those will do you a bit of good.

Laptops are used via wireless connections 95% of the time.

Wireless routers do not have inward connections enabled by default. Your ssh and vnc are firewalled by the router.

If they steal your laptop, chances are they will steal bandwidth, and all your pings do is locate an innocent if not somewhat clueless neighbor, or the coffee shop the thief is parked near.

Re:Dynamic IP script

[icebike]

Just look into one of the scripts to update a dynamic IP address with a dynamic DNS service, and set it up to be automatic. As soon as the computer connects, it will update the address.

So then what? Rush down to the library, no, wait, that a comcast IP, whoops, now he's at some hotel, damn, now he's on Verizon.....

Good luck getting any ISP to tell you where the wireless connection is hosted.

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:Glue

[Idiomatick]

I honestly do have faith in the moderating system, i mean i normally agree with the number but... Insightful? come on /. he suggested gluing a laptop to a desk.

And then what?

[frovingslosh]

Yup, there are many ways to learn the IP address/addresses of your computer once it has been stolen. Thing is, what can you do about it then? I've read far too many reports about people who know what addresses have been used by their stolen computers, but have been unable to get ISPs and even law enforcement to get involved and track down the stolen hardware. The ISPs simply are not going to co-operate with you, and law enforcement responses can range wildly. While there may be a few exceptional individuals who will help track a stolen laptop, from what I have read one should not be at all surprised to get a less helpful response from law enforcement.

It could be a good idea to hide a little DYNDNS update routine on each of one's computers (and thankfully DYNDNS will even give you multiple IDs that you can update, so you can have a different one for each computer). But I'll want to see a lot more positive feedback by people who did this or similar things before I will think it's very likely to be helpful. Now if you had a GPS in that laptop and sent out it's coordinates when updating, you might be able to do yourself a lot more good (unfortunately, GPS doesn't work well indoors).

Re:Glue

[fm6]

That's dumb, but at least you're on the right track. Anything you can do to slow down a thief lessens the chances of your goods getting stolen, even if it's a security cable that will take some time to cut through.

Re:Explosives...

[justin12345]

Not good enough, there could be an accomplice, one not poisoned by the spikes, and aware and able to avoid them. Better to have a series of passwords and biometric data that has to be entered in a reasonable time frame or an ounce or two of C4 embedded in the laptop will detonate. That way confidential data is destroyed and the intruder ins neutralized. Might not work with Macs though, too slim.

Re:Glue

[Tablizer]

Glue your laptop to your desk. I won't guarantee that it will not get stolen, but it is a lot harder to steal an entire desk than a single laptop.

Wouldn't that make it a "desktop computer"?
     

Best home theft deterrent?

[pongo000]

Can't help you with getting your laptops back, but I can give you a suggestion on how to force lowlife scum to pick your neighbor's house next time:

Dogs.

Not necessarily big, but loud. Most fucksticks who want your stuff don't want to deal with dogs, as there are far easier pickings right down the road. We have three. Homes have been broken into on either side of me, multiple times. I don't believe it's luck. Two border collies and a lab are simply a wrench in the works of a simple-minded shithead.

Believe me, someone wants in your house badly enough, no number of dogs, alarms, etc. will stop them. But the chances of someone wanting your stuff that badly are probably nil, and if they are willing to kill your dogs to get your stuff, they'll probably kill you too.

Dogs are the ticket. Think about it.

Better Sticker:

[Em Ellel]

"Cellular GPS LoJack Id: 81231982
  If found contact: 123-456-7890"

If you are savy enough, hack BIOS to display the same message at boot time (some BIOSes allow you to add your own images - thats one way, or add message to MBR)

Better yet, on boot print "GPS position is acquired and transmitted."

Probably won't get your laptop back, but may mess with their heads and make them wonder if they are being tracked by hardware. ;-)

-Em

Re:Laptop Stolen by Baggage Handlers

[carlzum]

I use a lightweight lock or plastic zip tie to tell if someone has been in my bags. TSA cuts them off 1 in 4 times, but at least I know to check. A few times I've had them ask me to remove it before I checked my bags in, but that seems to be the exception. If I checked in expensive items regularly I'd research insurance options. I don't trust the airlines, but the sooner you find something missing the more likely it is you'll get some compensation.

Re:Recovery, Not. Denial, Maybe.

[tftp]

You also need to either make regular backups or store all of your irreplaceable data on an external device

Or? OR ???

Re:Recovery, Not. Denial, Maybe.

[Phat_Tony]

Side note: Thieves are seldom savvy. If they had any brains they would get a less risky job. So chances of them disabling any counter measures are fairly slim.

Thievery is an industry. The car thief doesn't keep the car and drive it himself, or park it in his front yard with a "for sale" sign. He sells it to a chop shop. And the chop shop guys don't even tell the thief where the chop shop is to drive it to- they tell the thief to meet them in a vacant lot somewhere, and they bring an oxy-acetylene torch and a pair of ramps with them and locate and fry a lojack and disable Onstar before they take the car.

Thieves who steal laptops don't have to be "savvy" to bypass your counter-measures, they just have to be not dumb-as-a-rock. Why? Because thieves use division of labor, like in any other line of work. The thief never turns the laptop on, they take it to the back room of the pawn shop that they know deals in stolen goods. They'll buy the laptop off the thief for "a steal" compared to it's used price on Ebay. The pawn shop guy probably won't turn it on either, he'll resell it (with a markup) to a guy he knows who's professionally in the business of stripping and cleaning stolen computers for resale. That guy'll ebay it or even resell it again to another pawn shop or another ebayer, or even sell stacks of computers in "surplus lots" to ebayers or such.

Sure, some thieves are just plain dumber than a box of hammers, and are desperate and stupid with no connections, and they'll just open your laptop and play around with it, and trip any system you've got. Some thieves who stole laptops started using the email account and email address of the previous owner out of ignorance. But most stolen laptops are stolen by thieves who know how to fence goods. You can't assume your laptop will be handled incompetently because the guy who swiped it is a moron any more than you can assume McDonalds is poorly run because some random fry jockey's shoe size is higher than his IQ.

since they're connecting through a wireless router

[frovingslosh]

The IP address won't work for most laptops, since they're probably connecting through a wireless router

Maybe I'm missing something, but that makes no sense at all to me.

Wireless seems to have nothing to do with it, any time that you connect through a wired or wireless router connection you get a local NAT IP address. But the DYNDNS updating that was discussed in the post that I responded to is still valid; it registers the public IP address of the connection, not some private address. Traceroute will not give any additional information; once one has the IP address of where the computer connected from one should be able (with law enforcement and ISP cooperation) to find the point of connection.

Of course, if the thief only connect from public wifi hot spots, then one needs to catch them in that act. Same if they connect through a neighbor's router that doesn't have encryption enabled, although that likely pins down the thief to a very small geographic area. If they connect through their own router, wired or wireless, then DYNDNS gets their public IP address. So any home address connection would be a good target for a warrant. If people insist on running home systems without encryption they should expect such little surprise visits.

Why you think a traceroute to the IP address matters at all is completely unclear.

Re:There are a few solutions

[rivetgeek]

If you aren't running firefox with noscript and addblock then you deserve to get griefed. The solutions are there. Don't use IE or barebones firefox and then complain that every link on the internet isn't safe.

Re:Avoid US Airports

[Kjella]

Keep in mind that if I am forced to reveal the contents of my laptop, that I can be sued by shareholders (for leaking IP) and business partners (for breaking NDA), I can lose my business relationships and hence my income, and I potentially be charged for breaking EU (and other) directives on data protection.

1. IP/NDA leaks: Police authority trumphs contracts. If the police comes with a warrant to tap your phone line, do you think the phone company will point to their privacy policy and say they can't have it? Make sure you get it in writing that you have informed them of the confidentiality of the information and has been compelled, not volunteered this information and let them have it.
2. Loss of business or income implies that the police department must have leaked the data. Sue the hell out of them.
3. Inconsistency with EU directives etc. I'd go for not guilty as you have treated the data according to EU directives. That they've extracted it from you under legal duress makes you about as innocent as if they've beaten it out of you with a stick in my book. It's the local law and you have to comply. Since any person may be detained like that, make the general case that this means no data protected by the directive could ever be permitted to be on US soil. That should stop it fairly quick.

In short, I think the risk is considerably exaggerated. Don't you think the police has PLENTY confidential information in for example tax fraud or anti-trust cases? Do you think they can say no when the FBI come? Just hand it over to the police, and if anyone gives you lip about it ask if they'd like to end up in a prison cell.

Re:Better Sticker:

[Animaether]

That might work if they boot it up -first- before stealing it... but let's consider that a highly unlikely scenario.

So the perp steals the computer, goes to some other location, boots it up (presumably), sees your message and.. for the sake of argument, let's say he really believes that the GPS position is acquired and transmitted.

The perp will then do what?
A. yawn and sell it to a perp with higher tech skills to either determine whether it's fake or take out the GPS module / etc.
B. freak out and toss the computer.
C. kindly return it to its rightful owner

You might be hoping for C, but let's face it... C is the least likely option there.

So you're out of your computer and your fake message did nothing.

Let's, just for kicks, assume you really -did- have a GPS+cell in there and you did get the coordinates of... well of what?
A. nearest overpass
B. nearest dark alley
C. some internet cafe
D. a computer 'chop shop'
E. the perp's home address

You're hoping for E, possibly D, but, again, not very likely. But at least if it continues transmitting its position, you could possibly recover your laptop in the end.