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Laptop Thief Caught via AOL Login

Posted by michael on from the you've-got-jail dept.

Mundocani writes "Yahoo (Reuters) is reporting that the FBI has caught the guy who stole computers from Wells Fargo. The interesting part is that 'Investigators traced the computer to Krastof when he logged onto his own America Online account at home through one of the stolen computers.' Makes you wonder what sort of hooks the FBI has into AOL or other ISPs and what hardware identification is being transmitted at login."

2 of 524 comments (clear)

  1. MAC Address? Proc Serial? Magic Lantern? by tintruder · · Score: 2, Redundant
    Nobody ever talks about the MAC Address being a unique serial number for a PC. But if a company uses a management tool like OpenView, Tivoli, Spectrum etc., the MAC is certainly one of the parameters collected and recorded as part of the inventory.

    So if this guy installed his own software or OS on a stolen box and then got caught, that leaves precious few other options.

    Processor Unique ID?

    WindowsXP Phone Home?

    Keystorke Logger?

    In any case, it certainly appears that some "known" piece of identifying data was present and easily flagged.

    I for one would like to know more about the exact method used, because if there is indeed some kind of government back-door that has the potential to circumvent encryption or anonymity, we ought to find out.

    Maybe the FBI's "Magic Lantern" is a 2-piece system with 1/2 on the network, and the other half in the OS or the Silicon?

    Maybe all the bank employees are being spied upon without their knowledge?

    Maybe Patriot Act rears its head in the authorization of certain methods and practices?

  2. Re:Mac address perhaps ? by babazaroni · · Score: 1, Redundant

    The thief logged into the owner's AOL account, not his own. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/ch ronicle/archive/2003/11/27/MNGUO3BN101.DTL