Slashdot Mirror
Protect Your Computer From Theft
mirko writes "This story is about Personal Computer Security, it describes an efficient way not to have your computer stolen, even if you let it in front of your home for some weeks (Well in this case, it finally was stolen but its owner quickly found it back). You'll need some concrete and a shovel to have your investment secured, though..." Allright, this is just funny as hell. Enjoy.
Would concrete be a conductor of electricity?
Might the machine even still work (barring possible overheating w/o airflow?)
Been there done that.
> * self-destruct mechanisms... if the computer password is typed incorrectly, the entire computer is designed to destroy its own key components.
Do this in software. Erase the various firmware of the box (ie: erase DVDrom firmware, HD firmware, ethernet board BIOS and motherboard BIOS)
Why, quite obviously you've seen the Windows CEMENT page, and you neglected to mention it. ;)
What's your address again?
Beware, Nugget is watching... See?
This gives a whole new meaning to the term "rock solid stability".
::musical sting::
::studio audience laughs::
...tease people who would steal from you.
Sure hope some frustrated opportunist doesn't come back with a buddy and send this thing through your front window.
Brak: What's THAT?
Thundercleese: A light switch.. of TOTAL DEVASTATION!
>self-destruct mechanisms... if the computer password is typed incorrectly, the entire computer is designed to destroy its own key components
Heck use more explosives and take the room out...hmmm couple of pounds should do the trick.
Hmmm a machine that nobody EVER get's the password wrong more than 3 times in a row......heck nice remote LART.
What about a modular system for sticking weights in? Maybe instead of a PCI card, you could bolt in a PCI-card-sized piece of concrete. It may not be as heavy in the end, but if you could fill empty space in the case with small individual weights, it might be worthwhile. Is there anything that's cheap, heavy, solid and non-conductive? Iridium weights might be good, but they only satisy two of the criteria. ;)
Somebody gave me an old PC-XT. I see this technique as a way to make it lighter.
I see even classic Slashdot is now pretty much unusable on dial up anymore.
check out the rest of the good advice at pccarnage.net.
Find some (a lot of) thick plate steel/iron/whatever scrap.
Make several cut-outs the depth and height of the box, then weld them all together like a big sandwich.
I'm not sure how to get it stuck into the case for good, if you can't weld it in then maybe pour concrete around the edges.
200+ lbs easy. Cheaper than molten lead.
Hey, it's a honeypot for hardware! *grin*
Need a Python, C++, Unix, Linux develop
And I was so hoping you wouldn't find out about me and your father. I hope you don't think any less of him. He's quite a 'big daddy' to me. *smile*
Need a Python, C++, Unix, Linux develop
That would be a ton of computing power... sorry... he started it...
Jeff
LILO: linux 1
You won't ever, EVER be adding ANY new components to that bad boy.
That line of criminals not stealing what they can't carry reminds of one of those "stupidest criminals" stories. Seems that some not-quite-bright fellow figured that there was a booming market in stolen car batteries in $SOME_TOWN. He climbed over a brick wall to get at the back door of an auto shop, and moved a a large number of car batteries, by hand, back over the wall. After doing this, he was so tired, he lay down to take a quick nap, which was how the police found him, curled up with his batteries.
In other words, only non-stupid criminals will not steal what they can't carry.
--
--
"Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about Exchange Server next.
Perhaps the guts from a laptop fitted into a full tower or server case? You could probably bolt one into a server case, get all the interior walls of the case sheathed in concrete, drill some holes for air circulation and cabling, then load up the 75% of the case that's left with concrete. Use a port-replicator to use a regular keyboard/mouse/monitor with the beast, and you could be ready to rock.
Heck, this sort of thing could mean a lower insurance premium if you have a Powerbook or a Dell, since the concrete may well smother the flames before they really get going!
--
--
"Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about Exchange Server next.
Of course a few ounces of dog sh*t will do the same thing
It certainly put a stop to the janitor who was stealing people's lunches from the fridge at my old $ORK_PLACE. After eating that sandwich, he was observed filling his rolling trash bin via oral-gastric fluid reversal.
--
--
"Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about Exchange Server next.
Maybe Taco can scrounge the net for source and compile his own?
Except that a grammar/spell checker is supposed to find misspelled words and improper phrasing, then suggest the correct spelling and/or phrasing, not the other way around. Can you imagine what a Taco-built spell/grammar checker would do to a sentence like this?
My dog has fleas.
The mind shrinks away from the possibilities.
--
--
"Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about Exchange Server next.
Seriously, would anyone try to grab a PC sitting on a sidewalk? If you see a box there, it usually means "I'm so obsolete I can't be sold: please take me!". I often see these pieces of junk in my neighborhood: who wants them? Even if they worked before, the rain and elements would have ruined them. Forget the concrete. You won't need it.
But for a regular PC, never.
It doesn't mean much now, it's built for the future.
"My machine is a real boat anchor."
"Rock Solid Windows NT!!!"
"I've heard of firewalls, but that's ridiculous!"
"Dude, I c4n't haX0r th15 1337 b0xen - i've run ito a wall..."
.. and overheard in marketing: "OK, the Engineering Department has our new machine's specs set in concrete."
C'mon - everybody join in....
"Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm." - Anonymous
No guarantees it'll work, but i have mandrake running on mine (behind a firewall)
Tips and Tricks for Mozilla
They wouldn't rock very far with a sheet of lead in them...
"Give the anarchist a cigarette"
A little planning goes a long way...
Yup - that is it. I have one too :)
Do you even know anything about perl? -- AC Replying to Tom Christiansen post.
AH YES! Transcribing 6502 assembler byte-by-byte from Byte.
Those were the days...
If you don't want to repeat the past, stop living in it.
I think this is pretty final proof that people bitching about grammar usually do it as an end unto itself rather than because it actually annoys them. However, I sure was confused about this guy renting out his machine in front of his house.
The Signal/Noise ratio can be improved in two ways. Remaining silent is the OTHER way.
and Spafford will consider your data almost secure...
The bigger problem is molding it to fit the internals of the computer without exposing the motherboard to the temperature of liquid copper. Perhaps just get blocks of it which you weld together or something.
I wonder how this would weigh in with one of those old compaq raid array servers or maybe the original ibm XT case. hee
- about me
Jeez, that read like Kirk-speak. Where, is the, ensign in the, red shirt, Bones?
da, ve
Dude macs are seriously easy to upgrade. You don't even need a screwdriver to upgrade powermac g4 or cube. For the powermac just pull on the handle at the side, you can even open it up when the computer is running (not sure why you'd want to though). Turn off the cube, flip it over, push a button and handle pops out, pull out the 'core' and you can upgrade everything. Plus you feel like you're handling a nuclear reactor which is fun.
Not sure about the imac but it's still easy, and my iBook only took a screwdriver to upgrade. The PowerBook is a bit tough..
Now compare this to my PCs.. I have to unplug everything on my aptiva and pull the cover off the back, I have to rip off the faceplate on my athlon and then unscrew a side panel. On our dell you have to unscrew a thingy and then push HARD on two tabs and slide it forward. All very complicated stuff.
Plus on macs you don't have to screw around with IRQs, most of the hardware just works.
Enough ranting, I just don't like it when people get things that wrong.
Don't put windows on this machine, it would be easier to steal than to upgrade the hardware :)
What, have little "brick" components. Fill the harddrive with gravel? Install with a little mortar?
Steven Rostedt
Steven Rostedt
-- Nevermind
Did the poster ever claim that Apple was the original innovator? No. Did Jobs? No. Both just said, "Hey... look... it's easy to open".
----
----
Am I the only one who thinks Microsoft is a misnomer? Perhaps Macrosoft would be a better fit?
Hmmm, would that be a house computer then?
This isn't too bad of an idea - disregarding the fact that computers are rarely stolen from homes, since they depreciate so quickly, by the time the thief got it to a hock shop, the damn thing is most likely obsolete...
Really, though - in theory, if one could get a "sheet" of lead - ie, about 14-15 inches on the side and 1.5-2 inches thick - well, bolt that to the side of your tower lid (on the inside of the left cover, if you are facing the front of the machine) - of course, your tower may lean and/or fall over to the left now...
:)
Worldcom - Generation Duh!
Reason is the Path to God - Anon
I'm not sure that concrete would cause a problem for a PC. I think I'll need to try it.
certainly this is not a catch-all solution, but it does seem to work...
when i was living in the dorms in college, lots of people had PC's...and lots of people had bad habits of leaving the doors to their rooms wide open. One of my friends had his computer stolen right off his desk while he out getting some food. He was only gone for a moment, but with the door to his room open, the computer was in plain sight to any theif who walks by. That poor guy didn't leave his door open all the time, he was just unlucky enough on that one occasion.
On the other hand, i had another friend whos computer probably should have been stolen. He would leave his door open all day long...leaving it unattended for hours. His anti-theft system was simple and effective.... he had gotten crazy on his computer with multi-colored paint pens. His computer was so uniquely covered in colorfull doodles that nobody could ever walk down the hall lugging his computer without it being identified as belonging to somebody else. Most likly, anybody who did see it would know who's it was cause they saw it in that one dorm room w/ the door open....
anyway... that was a long winded explanation of a simple idea.... the more you personalize your stuff...the less somebody else can see it as theirs.
4) Get sued for entrapment and invasion of privacy by the thieves. Curse the stupidity of our legal system while you rot in jail with a Russian who demonstrated the flaws in some ebook software.
It's 10 PM. Do you know if you're un-American?
Build-your-own rockmount servers.
"Consider yourself a member of a virtual corporation with Mr. Torvalds as your Chief Executive Officer." - Linux Advocac
Or, taking and idea from those wily South Africans, install a flamethrower in your PC case!
NVidia graphics... Athlon CPU... IBM disk drives... BernzOMatic benzene...
- - - - -
Napster-to-go says "Fill and refill your compatible MP3 player", which is a lie. It's not MP3. It's WMA with DRM.
After using Macs for years, I recently built a PC and searched long and hard for a relatively inexpensive case that was as easy to work with as my Powermac G4. If you're looking for color cases, check out colorcases.com. The case I ended up getting, though, was the AT900 case from pccase.com because it was nearly completely screwless. It is not ugly-looking but also not breathtaking like the G4's case. It has a great slideout motherboard tray and drives slide in pretty easily. They also have a black version but I didn't think that it would look good because of the white bezels on the drives. It was a really easy case to work with and it shipped quickly too.
I live in a pretty questionable apartment complex in a rent-controlled (read: again questionable) part of a large urban area not too far from RedHat. I'd be happy to perform this service for the lowly donation of a linux-happy webcam. I even have DSL for the purpose.
:) .
BTW, I don't necessarily mean to associate RedHat with urban badness; in fact they are about 18 miles from me
Thanks,
DragonWyatt
Don't sweat the petty things. But do pet the sweaty things.
Heard about a fellow who got so pained by people stealing his radios / CBs that he built a thermite charge into one, set to go off half a day or so after it was stolen.
One day it was stolen.
The next day the news had a story about a fire in an apartment building that apparently started in a closet that happened to be full of used consumer electronic equipment.
(The trouble with this approach, as you can see, is that many crooks live in multi-unit housing, so non-crook neighbors are likely to suffer serious economic hardship and maybe physical hardship or death, as "colateral damage" to the revenge on the crook.)
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
Found from the net...
This was apparently done at a Boston railroad station just after WWII, it
could easily work at airports, hotels, anyplace where someone (skycap,
bellboy) carries your bags at some point.
Some MIT students put a large (10lb) electric gyroscope inside a
suitcase. Also inside was a car battery for power and a hidden switch on
the outside to activate the gyroscope.
The gyroscope was mounted with its axis normal to the flat side of the
suitcase. Thus, if you carried the suitcase normally by the handle while
walking straight ahead, nothing would happen. If you tried to turn,
gyroscopic precession would fight you.
The students got off a train and hailed a porter. As the shen suitcase was
handed to the porter the switch was thrown. The porter walked towards the
entrance to the station plaform (straight line) with no problem. As he
turned at the entrance to head for the taxi stand, the suitcase tried to
continue in the same direction as though it had a mind of its own. The
porter pulled the end around, and the suitcase tilted and levitated into
the air (pivoting on the handle). The porter dropped the suitcase and ran!
The suitcase bounced on its corners for a few moments before it quieted
down.
Try it on friends helping you pack for a trip!
--- if y cn rd ths y cn gt a gd jb n cmptr prgmmng!
Oh, now I finally get it. Thanks for the enlightenment. Now that I know why they do it, I can even make a modest contribution to their efforts of "h4X0r"ing the English language. (For the paranoid, the URL is http://www.engrish.com.
Security through Explosives: get instructions on how to make explosives from the Internet. Fill computer with homemade C4 equivelent. Make sure porch is splatterproofed.
Security through Canis Familiarius : Attach chain to computer. Attach other end to Mastif.
Security through Voltage: Get power line transformer. Connect primary to case, secondary to power. Let theives try to steal machine now at 18KV.
www.eFax.com are spammers
I think the box would get torn apart on an early theft attempt, limiting the potential humor. Even better would be a box with several remote control options, such as electroshock antitheft (current running through case), a gyro to make the case bounce (thus scaring the wits out of whoever is carrying it) and maybe silly string from a front panel or something when someone bends down to look at it. A clever person with a couple extra dollars could have a lot of fun with this...
http://thechubbyferret.net - Ferret pictures and informative links.
Just be careful that they don't steal the webcam. It would be somewhat easyer to carry...
Say no to software patents.
Actually, this boils down to a simple cost/benefit analysis. It all depends whether it is cheaper to buy new computers every month (because the old one got stolen...) or whether it is cheaper to pay the excessively inflated rents of the better part of town...
Say no to software patents.
Sure, you can legally do this, but don't expect to ever see your webcam again...
Say no to software patents.
1. Your wife (not implying that you paid for her, that's simply a large investment in time and money)
2. Your house (excellent investment)
3. Your car
4. Your computers
Why do so many people make this mistake? The only items on this list that are even remotely close to an investment is the wife. An investment is something that you put money into and get more money out of. Everything else is a liability.
In general, you don't make money out of your house, you don't get a return from your car. You could make money with your computer, but it is a tool, the real investment is your time and energy. You also have to spend more money maintaining things like cars and houses and computers (depending how up to date you need them to be).
Your wife is the only thing that could be considered an investment, you spend time and effort on her, she spends time and effort on you (and if she has a good job, you get money back too).
So remember, an investment is something that MAKES money, not COSTS money.
"I'll take the red pill, no, blue. AAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH........"
"I'll take the red pill. No! Blue! AAAaaaahhhhhhhhh"
- Monty Python meets the Matrix
Security through obscenity: Fill the hard drive with pr0n and tip off the authorities when it is stolen
Okay, the story, the idea, was funny. But, don't you think, that the text, itself, was strewn with just a few too many, umm, commas?
deBeers doesn't actually do business in the US because they would be targeted by antitrust laws. The control too much of the market to be allowed to do business in the US.
It was in the something awful forums, and it was on the main page of Hard|OCP a while back. But i guess case mods from the forums were front page news several times on slashdot, too.
am i the only one who finds this article to be extremely stupid and not funny?
Dude, those computers are so stoned!
God, how I hate stoners.
Those boxes really smoke when you turn them on.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
Around the office I was always having my pens stolen... until I embedded them in 50lb blocks of cement.
I definitely read that as "always having my penis stolen".
(The tip off was that it's not a plural noun, so the "them" didn't really work.)
-------
Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum sonatur.
I put my case out on the street and wrote "wang" on the side of it with a black marker. I saw the garbage man come back with a lead vest and tongs to haul that baby away.
Security through blood loss: The comparisons to car stereos brought to mind a trick a friend of mine once used. He figured out where the thieves would grab the enclosure, and strategically taped razor blades there. On more than one occasion he found blood in his car. He stopped when he found out that somene else who did this was successfully prosecuted for, essentially, endangering life to protect property.
Cute. Would it be possible to fill the case with something heavy that still lets the computer work? (I imagine the biggest problem is finding a material that is nonconductive to electricity but doesn't cause the chips to overheat.)
Sanity is a sandbox. I prefer the swings.
Notice the mirko writes part. Taco isn't the culprit, it's mirko.
I would :)
well... no maybe not... my 233MMX w/128MB would the panmts off of a p200...
Blah.
What'd be the fun in that? It'd just be a completely accurate computer generated representation of yourself - the real you would become obsolete ;)
On a more serious note though, the trolling you do is a valuable service, and I doubt whether it could ever be automated accurately. Keep it real, bro, troll on!
I already have, but I've decided not to use it ;)
Actually, it's configurable to be able to do anything from 'First Post!' to 'Imagine a Beowulf...' to 'Jon Katz sucks!!'
Yes, I was very bored.
Of security through obscurity. This is just security through being a total PAIN IN THE ASS. Attackers will have to resort to a brute force method, some sort of hand-truck perhaps?
What, me worry?
Chris Beckenbach
Perhaps You could instead install sheets of lead around the vital components. This would have a twofold effect: theft deterrent and protection from an EMP in the event of a nuclear war.
---
"No problem. I have the capacity to do infinite work so long as you don't mind that my quality approaches zero."-Dilbert
Jeez, my computer is an SGI Indigo2. I don't need concrete for security. Fucker weighs a ton already. Good thing I didn't go for a Crimson.
-Nat
even if you let it in front of your home for some weeks
Grammatically, there's nothing wrong with that sentence. What Taco needs is a good proofreader.
Just to let you know, this story was mentioned on [H]ard|OCP about a week or so ago.
Why in the world didn't the guy rig up a camera so we could watch the poor sod in action as he tried to make off with his gravitationaly biased booty? I bet it would have been on the telly as one of those bloopers or the like. Speaking of cruel tricks to play on burglers: You know how alot of burglers go through the icebox looking for yummies before they scoot with the goods? Get a popular brand of ice cream, vanilla is best, and mix it with a handfull of urea crystals. Leave it in the icebox if you suspect a burgler or a nosy housemate. Make sure you get the whole thing on video.
Fast machines, powerfull AI, impulsive invention,... All I lack is a good espresso machine!
That is the most retarded idea that I have ever heard in my life.
It's acutally worse than "Jump to Conclusions" in OfficeSpace.
Conformity is the jailer of freedom and enemy of growth. -JFK
I need a Moores Law Insurance Policy.
Whereby my insurance company doesn't notice that my machine gets stolen once every eighteen months.
134340: I am not a number. I am a free planet!
I was taking a swig of brew when I read the hornet line.
I'm now typing this on my emergency backup keyboard.
134340: I am not a number. I am a free planet!
Macs are already hard enough to upgrade.
--
Sometimes it's best to just let stupid people be stupid.
For those of you who found this funny, check out Cement Cuddlers, the marriage of concrete and teddy bears. I promise you'll laugh.
He put his boots up on the table and made a face. "The sig," he smirked. "You can waste your life in search of the sig."
so on an MS system, you have just enough time to boot before you have to shut down. Maybe?
Check out the Vinny the Vampire comic strip
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
(Yes, the link has a nice graphic of this.)
I don't why, but it does seem strangely appropriate.
Check out the Vinny the Vampire comic strip
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
You can buy the Silicon in a liquid/pasta form and then you can just paste it up and mixed with the right chemicals it wil get hard, fairly easy i guess...
Yeah, I think my local restraunt serves that silicon pasta. Blech! :P
FuzzyIf I may ask, what were the top five investments?
1. Your wife (not implying that you paid for her, that's simply a large investment in time and money)
2. Your house (excellent investment)
3. Your car
4. Your computers
5. ?
I hope number five wasn't Webvan stock.
...that "you're a criminal, you're stupid" touch. I'd like to see an extension of the original idea:
Take a nice Dell/Compaq/whoever box from a new PC. (For you computer guys/gals, I mean cardboard box, not the "computer" or "CPU" if I may use your lingo)
Get an old PC, do the concrete trick. Or, go one more and use lead or depleted uranium in lieu of concrete. Place computer in cardboard box and seal box (assuming you can lift the computer... a crane of some sort might be necessary).
Leave box on front porch with note from UPS. Video tape morons as they try to steal it. (You could even contact the police and participate in a massive sting operation). Post videos to website, and proceed to be slashdotted.
My neighborhood won't work for this, so I humbly beg an upstanding member of the community to push forth with these plans and then entertain us all with keen wit (and video evidence).
and for the classic image, go to geoshitties: MS's new OS
Take 3-4 cans of expanding foam from the hardware store (the good stuff not the latex). Install them inside your case with a small charge (or just a pointy solieniod) to rupture them in case of multiple password failures. Stand back and wait. The expanding foam should not only destroy the PC, but it should congeal in a 3-4 cubic foot mass all around. That will learn them!
âoeWho knew something as harmless as willful ignorance could end up having real consequences?â
You can fill all of the toilets in your house with concrete too! It keeps neighbors from stealing/using them, and is a great idea for a means of revenge.
Some of you rednecks out there might have an empty toilet sitting in the front yard: fill it with concrete and prevent the city cleanup crews from removing it!
--
One future, two choices. Oppose them or let them destroy us.
I don't know about your friend's insurance plan. But the insurance that I have does cover computers . And in the event that a computer is stolen it is replaced by a brand new machine regardless of how old the machine that was stolen.
So if I had a 386 get stolen it would be replaced by whatever computer I want :O) But up to a certain point of course. It will only cover up to like $4k or something. So a Sun enterprise 10k is out of the question.
When I discussed this with my insurance broker he said the reasoning was simply that it would be a big PITA to track down equipment that old.
"Ignorance is bliss" - Sypher in the Matrix
--
Garett
Apparently there's no Word Processor for Linux with a built in grammar checker. Maybe Taco can scrounge the net for source and compile his own?
A friend of mine acquired a siren/alarm thing that's used in either Finland or Sweden. This siren is used when families are very snowed in up in the hills in their cabins allowing them to be located. These sirens can be heard for five miles or so in the open. Let's just say he rigged a motion type device in his case so that when the case was tilted too far off balance the alarm would come on. Needless to say, this would cause any burgler to shit his pants and probably be deafened to the point of bleeding from his ears. It was a great proof of concept, but he liked to tinker with his box a lot and having accidently set it off a couple of times he removed it.
Hey, I read the [H]ard, and you should too
from the webpage:
<A previous attempt had been made around Halloween, to steal this computer. It was partially moved off of my front step>
Hmm, I wonder why Halloween, and not other holidays? Damn punk kids.
Thanks
bm :)-~
US Democracy:The best person for the job (among These pre-selected choices...)
I was planning to use the webcam from a computer safely INDOORS. You know, point it out the window?
I wonder what kind of people would start cheesing in front of the cement web cam hough... I may have to try that.
bm :)-~
US Democracy:The best person for the job (among These pre-selected choices...)
Considering that the person didn't even try to run the computer after "theft-protecting" it, a better solution with the same results (and one that wouldn't have had the computer stolen after "approximately two months") is to simply put it out on your side-walk and pour enough concrete over it so that no computer is even visible, and all you have is a slight bump. An added bonus is that all the skateboard kiddies will entertain you by running over the bump practicing their moves (or "hax0ring", in the lingo.) Way cool.
~
Well, actually diamonds are VERY thermally conductive and INCREDIBLY good dialectrics - not to mention that they are so dense that they are probably fairly heavy as well. However, it would be pretty expensive to have Debeers custom fit your PC with a diamond casing and diamond dust, and I think it would definately encourage theft if the material was known...
Seeing this computer in an episode of the Flintstones!
I could and whatever group of people decides to try it better have insurance for when the building they're in collapses around them
-C
"Well kids, you tried your best, and you failed. The lesson is, never try." -Homer Simpson
I wonder...
/* ---- */
// Agent Green (Ian / IU7)
If a person has enough desktop style cases with the same approximate dimensions, if they would be adequately strong enough to make a retaining wall, or maybe even a brick house...hrm.
// Agent Green (Ian / IU7 / KB1JQO)
// IEEE 802.3: All 10base Are Belong To Us
Silicon Rubber, it wont interfere with the electrical stuff and it can take upto heats of 200-300 degree's (difrent ones maybe more) and will flow it somewhere else i guess, so put like 2 centimeters of silicon around all the parts and then fill up the rest with concrete, should do the job.
You can buy the Silicon in a liquid/pasta form and then you can just paste it up and mixed with the right chemicals it wil get hard, fairly easy i guess...
Not sure if this will work but i guess it does, i have seen it done with electronic parts who needed to go underwater, so it should work, except i not really sure how it will flow away the heat of the cpu and such.
The result would be too heavy to lift but still functional. Drat-- how do I get this thing into the shop?
Sig: Tell all your friends NOT to download the Advanced Ebook Processor:
LedgerSMB: Open source Accounting/ERP
Security though Adobe: Install Advanced eBook Processor from Elcomsoft, lable accordingly, and leave anywhere near an Adobe office...
Sig: Tell all your friends NOT to download the Advanced Ebook Processor:
LedgerSMB: Open source Accounting/ERP
Outside the firewall, I imagine... Behind the firewally, you would put your real rackmount. Oh, and when I say "firewall" I don't mean one of those networking gadgets. I man a REAL firewall-- one put in by one of those construction firms...
Everyone should have their systems behind a firewall...
Sig: Tell all your friends NOT to download the Advanced Ebook Processor:
LedgerSMB: Open source Accounting/ERP
Outside the firewall, I imagine... Behind the firewall, you would put your real rackmount. Oh, and when I say "firewall" I don't mean one of those networking gadgets. I mean a REAL firewall-- one put in by one of those construction firms...
Everyone should have their systems behind a firewall... Of course not any wall will do-- I remember University of South Carolina discovering how easy it was to break through a wall to discover the server on the other side (misplaced 4 years earlier).
Sig: Tell all your friends NOT to download the Advanced Ebook Processor:
LedgerSMB: Open source Accounting/ERP
Maybe a certain Federal Bureau should adopt this as a security policy. Although it might be hard to catch international terrorists when you have a 50kg lump of concrete hanging out of your holster.
What insurance company actually buys the stuff for you? There's a respected used computer pricing guide (I can't remember the name right now) that will list FMV prices for older computers. That's what your insurance company shold be paying.
Regardless, I've got about 10 386/486/Early Pentium machines that I'd love to see stolen^H^H^H^H^H^H have a good home....
i just put a "designed for windows 98" sticker on it. everyone thinks it's a piece of junk.
Security through obscurity: Get hundreds of empty cases and leave them on your lawn, camoflaging your one PC that actually works.
Security through insects: Fill it with hornets.
Security through insecurty: Install outlook. Label accordingly, and leave anywhere near the VA linux offices.
Or you could have a decoy rack with a couple of 1u cement boxes for bait....the possiblities are endless!
Maskirovka
As a computer technician, I sincerely hope this method does not catch on. Ow! My aching back!
"You want me to upgrade the video card? Okay. Hand me that chisel."
Heh. I get it. Stone... Souper computer. Heh. Heh. I must be dense at 2:50 in the morning to not get that one. Heh.
^_^
Please mod this guy up - this is one of the funniest comments I've read today on /.
Cheers.
-Shaunak.
but I'll stick with my mercury switch and handgrenade setup right now.
oh, gtg, that's my cousin at the door here to swap my video card for me. hehe.
self-destruct mechanisms... if the computer password is typed incorrectly, the entire computer is designed to destroy its own key components.
Thank you, but no. I don't want to be running for cover every time I forget my root password.
That was a gag program (I believe in an April issue of either Compute or Analog magazine). It reformatted the display in several different (progressively "worse" looking) fashions and then terminated with static on the screen. Rebooting fixed everything, but lots of people were freaked out that their programmer-genius kid had broken the $1000 family computer based on information from a magazine. :)
"This week, teams, you have ten hours to build a computer casing that can resist our trusty steamroller!"
I'm sure the NERDS would be up for that one!
www.lucernesys.comHorizon: Calendar-based personal finance
And maybe some way more efficient fuels in the bargain? Please? :)
The coolest voice ever.
Well, it wouldn't be that expensive if the DeBeers diamond cartel didn't keep diamond prices so inflated. Most people aren't aware of just how common diamonds really are..
Why is everyone so upset with the Microsoft monopoly, but turns a blind eye to the evil DeBeers empire of South Africa? What is wrong with you people??
Umm yeah. But if the computer actually worked, that would sort of take the humor/irony of trying to stop someone from stealing your computer by filling it with concrete. You would actaully be trying to find a legitmate anti-theift device then, in which case there are probably several hundred ways you can do it that would be much better than filling your case with some heavy nonconductive material.
Not a plural noun? Huh!? You mean you only have one penis?
You know, if your neighborhood is so crime ridden that you actually make room in your house for decoy PCs, maybe you should consider moving somewhere else.
is a good fifty-dollar, two-hundred-pound car radio.
The navy encases any electronics that may contact seawater in resin. In a similar vein, I don't see why you couldn't cover the insides with plastic and then pour the concrete. The electronics don't care if they're encased in something, as long as that something is not conductive. Plastic should afford a decent barrier between the boards and the concrete, as long as you were careful to ensure that the electronics were completely sealed.
On second thought, there would be the obvious risk of overheating. But the thing would work for a few minutes at a time.
Toronto-area transit rider? Rate your ride.
Imagine a Beowulf cluster of these!
Less funny than you think. Appropriately one of the first Beowulf clusters was called the Stone Soupercomputer. Not that they built it out of stone; it was named after the parable of the Stone Soup.
There's an article about it in this month's Scientific American.
Toronto-area transit rider? Rate your ride.
hidden background scripts that run at random times and "phone home", so you get the theif's IP address.
GPS type devices installed somewhere in the computer... connected to the United States' secret orbital bombing platform. You don't get your computer back, but you get revenge.
self-destruct mechanisms... if the computer password is typed incorrectly, the entire computer is designed to destroy its own key components.
Other suggestions?
if they could make concrete conduct :op Shiet.
Screw 3...
I think that this guy should go through with his molten lead filled computer. Place it in the middle of his front yard. Then post his home address on Slashdot issuing the new challenge to all the wannabe hackers who have the drive to exploit this challenging security hazard.
Why do I have a sick feeling that some Slashdotter would stick a Post-It note on the case with the words "First Post"?
For added security, you should rub on some poison paste around the closet. At least that way if the thief ever gets to it, he won't be far away :-)
Imagine a Beowulf cluster of these!
"This is Zombo Com, and welcome to you who have come to Zombo Com" - www.zombo.com
Or just do what I do... have large Australian Sheppards that patrol the house and love the taste of blood. :-)
Of course a few ounces of dog sh*t will do the same thing, and is less straining on the back...
--
Buy Hex-Rated Stuff, fight the DMCA!
When you are laying the garage drive, climb onto the roof of your house and hoik that technological bad-boy directly earthward into the wet cement.
I'd like to see them take it then. (Then again I'd like to see you try and park your car but, you know, objective achieved.)
:)
Hmm.. well, so much for upgrading.
The case is not necessary. When constructing a new brick residence, simply embed the components into the brick. The components are powered by the house's internal wiring. If your wall gets stolen, you can claim both computer theft and vandalism of your residence.
But besides that, what I have done in my house to prevent some pre-puberty bastard from taking my pride and jow was this;
Picked up a few 486 and 386 computers from a swap meet, I believe I traded a couple 3Com NICs for them.
Placed my main machines inside a closet and ran extentions for the video, mouse, and keyboard to an omnicube to switch between them.
Set the ever so beautiful 3(4)86 boxes in the computer shelves of mine and my wifes desks with an extra one of the floor beside my desk and ran dummy cables to the outlets in the back.
And of course, locked the closet with the main systems in it.
I know this isn't real security, only obscurity, but it does serve it's purpose. I picked the idea up from a friend of mine in Sterling Hts. Michigan who had someone break into his house. They took his 386 and monitor but left his real machine which was locked in a hollowed out filing cabinet sitting next to his desk. Which insurance payed for a new monitor and computer. (wonder if that was legal). But never the less it worked. I on the other hand have two extra large based cooling fans in the closet on thermostats to keep the temp in the closet down. I am running 1 server and 2 workstations, plus a firewall, all hidden in that locked closet.
As of today no one has broken in, and I hope they never do. But while I am at work I have a little peace of mind in knowing I have done what I could to protect what is probably on of the 5 largest investments in my life.
Cecil Rhodes, the guy who created De Beers, was much more evil than Gates. He was the famous billionaire of the time (1890s, S. Africa), and he took the lands of the many native Africans. He took the lands that now make up Zambia and Zimbabwe (which he named North and South Rhodesia) from the Africans and enslaved them, making them work in the diamond and gold mines.
This was in the 1880s and the 1890s, well after America abolished slavery (and this land was part of the British Empire!). His actions against the blacks led to the situation of apartheid in South Africa that lasted up until 1990-1994. Zimbabwe and Zambia didn't get their freedom from white control until the 1980s.
The evolution of the modern pc:
step 0 - rocks and wood
step 1 - huge multi-ton arrays of vacuum tubes
step 2 - metal things that are cool
step 3 - desktop pc
step 4 - Apple Cube
step 5 - Microsoft X-Box (yes, it is pretty much a pc!)
step 6 - Cement Block pc (and hey, you can use it instead of those low-tech 0-transistor bricks!)
(note: use pentium 4 processors to increase weight)