Mac Thief Caught Thanks To Applescript & Timbuktu

el.cerrito.slasher sent in an amusing bit found on MacSlash. This story is a tale of a stolen iMac that just happened to be running Timbuktu (a remote control program like VNC I believe). Well the stolen box kept getting used, and the owner was able to track it down through a variety of amusing Timbuktu Fu. Funny story.

Comments

applescript strikes back

[athagon]

What a brilliant idea. AppleScript - although simplistic and arcane - obviously has some uses. Forget getting the iTunes song or FTPing files, here comes the Timbuktu/AppleScript remote-disk-erase squad! ^_^

Re:applescript strikes back

[Morth]

Yikes! That is some urglee code. I mean come on, since when has code used a possessive apostrophe?

Since AppleScript was invented, obviously. (90-91?)
IIRC, set text item delimiters of AppleScript to {":"} works just as well. It's the versatility and its way of knowing where to put parentheses that makes AppleScript easy.

Can I do this with my laptop?

[bildstorm]

Personally, I'm slightly security paranoid, but I don't believe that anyone who steals my machine is going to care what's on it, but more likely swap drives. Ok, that's what I'd do, at least.

But, looking at this, I'd love to have something like this running. Are they any current security programs that do things like this? I would need it for Windows and Linux.

Now if only I could have it run in the BIOS. Imagine if on the bios level, without a proper key or password or whatever, if the hard drive was removed and replaced, it would then call a panic number whenever connected. That'd be neat.

Neat! But . . .

[Selanit]

All it would take to permanently disable this sort of thing would be to format the hard drive and reinstall the OS. And that would be very likely to happen on a Linux box. I mean seriously, how many thieves are going to be willing to sit and work at a Linux box till they come up with a valid Username/Password combo?

With a Windows box, on the other hand, you could easily write a program to verify the computer's IP address at boot time, and if it doesn't match, send an email to you reporting the unusual IP address and any other useful info you can think of. At each boot thereafter (common with Windows, of course) it checks a particular file on a particular server for instructions on what else to do, such as activating auto-destruct. That way you never auto-destruct your own computer by accident, since it requires permission first.

If you were particularly ambitious, you could have it activate a keystroke logger and email the recorded info to you each time it boots.

praise osx

[banky]

Now instead of all that freaky AppleScript, the payload of the script is a simple
sudo rm -rf /

Applescript is my least favorite part of Macs. (shudder). it's nice to be able to integrate shell scripts as AppleScript now; just wrap the entire shell script in a single line of Applescript.

Reminds me of Distributed.net

[realdpk]

Wired Article on how d.net helped someone track down their stolen computer.

Record 'em!

[PhotoGuy]

Recovering the iMac at all is very cool. Every PC and Mac should have some "phone home" program installed; I bet most stolen computers aren't wiped. Anyone buying a Mac/PC on the super-cheap, is unlikely to buy or dig up a copy of the OS to start fresh.

The lack of a prosecution for the theft is disappointing. (As someone who has had their place robbed twice in the past two years, I find the low capture/prosecution rates depressing; it just doesn't seem to be a priority with law enforcement. Sigh. Oh well, if anyone tries to hit me again, they'll be on candid camera :-)

What might also have been cool, would be to use AppleScript to flip on the microphone, record the sound in the room, and send the recordings now and then, when connected. (Or use AppleScript to download a program that does the same; I don't know AppleScript.) That would potentially allow more "evidence" to be collected. If the lady didn't steal it, there's a chance you'd record something that would be useful. (Her thanking her brother-in-law for the Mac, or the like.) Having the Mac copy you on all incoming and outgoing mail may also be useful. (Not sure if the Mac could do it; Outlook almost does this by itself, with all the viruses it accepts :-)

Probably not admissible in court, I guess. Although using a stolen device for surveillance really *should* be a legal means of admissible evidence, in a perfect world :-)

-me

Very Sad

[smack_attack]

This just exacerbates the problems with the current police system. Cops would much rather sit by the side of the freeway eating a donut, drinking some coffee and pointing a fucking radar gun at your car. God forbid they actually help people out in recovering stolen property, that has to be done by the individual these days.

Why is that? Is it because traffic citations are easy and gain them money? Is it because they can bust someone for possession of a "controlled" substance and also get forfeiture of property? Is it because law enforcement is just lazy when it comes to going after real criminals who leave behind real victims because it's not economically viable?

I'll let you decide.

Make it undesirable!!

[debiansierra]

At our local geek store, on the wall, is this running gag. This guy took an old case and filled it with cement (harder than you might think). Then he sets the 250lb beast on his front porch. He keeps a running log of movement and/or spottings of people trying to steal it. One time someone did steal it only to leave it in a ditch not 20 feet away. Later, he made a 350lb version of a working computer! He has detailed plans for doing this :). Personally, after driving by the place to see for myself, I can't imagine walking all the way across his yard, picking a computer off the porch, and walking back, in plain daylight with neighbors and all! But, no, the logs plainly show that people try this all the time. he should design a camera triggered by the case's movement to get the look on their faces when they try to pick it up >:).