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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."

18 of 524 comments (clear)

  1. Moral of the story... by jkrise · · Score: 5, Funny

    1. When you steal computers, don't steal laptops.
    2. After stealing a dedsktop PC, even if it has the latest Windows OS and Service Pack, format the disk and load RedHat.
    3. If you steal a Linux PC, install Windows on it for a year, then switch back - even AOL can't maintain that big a log!
    4. Don't use AOl - switch over to MSN - it's much more secure - instead of the FBI, it'll be the BSA that's after you!

    --
    If you keep throwing chairs, one day you'll break windows....
  2. You know... by mental_telepathy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I hate to say that Slashdot readers have obvious biases, but why is it that when the police do something smart with computers, you get:
    Makes you wonder what sort of hooks the FBI has into AOL or other ISPs and what hardware identification is being transmitted at login.
    And when they can't solve a computer crime case, you get 100 posts about how the police are computer dummys. I'll be honest, I'm not too worried about my ISP having my MAC address, or even the make and model of my video card if they are interested. It's just nice to see a criminal get busted

    1. Re:You know... by jkleid · · Score: 5, Insightful

      "I'll be honest, I'm not too worried about my ISP having my MAC address, or even the make and model of my video card if they are interested."

      Authorities now have a sizable fraction of the technology possessed by big brother in the book 1984. Whether or not to fear that power is a matter of trust.
      _______

    2. Re:You know... by Alsee · · Score: 5, Interesting

      why is it that when the police do something smart with computers...
      And when they can't solve a computer crime case...

      Because the issue is how they do it. News items appear slam the police for success and ridicule them for failure simply becuase news items are not a representitve sampling of reality! The police have a hundreds of successes every day, but who cares to write about them or read them? It only becomes a news item when the police have a success AND they did something wrong or controvercial in the process. The same goes for their failures - it only becomes newsworthy when someone really screwed up.

      As for this particular story it is all about how the police caught the guy. It appears that Slashdot botched the story in this case. Another news site reports that the guy did NOT log into his own AOL account, he logged into an AOL account belonging to the owner of the machine. If that's the case then there really isn't any story here. If some moron steals my wallet and then shows up at bank trying to use my safety deposit key then there's no problem grabbing him and throwing him in prision.

      I was going to continue with an example of police methods that would not have been acceptable, but lets skip arguing over specifics. Suffice it to say that there *are* a wide variety of unacceptable methods. If you don't agree with that then you are a far greater threat to this country than any terrorist with a bomb.

      -

      --
      - - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
  3. Re:PC call home by miu · · Score: 5, Informative
    Nope, the slashdot blurb about him using his own aol account is wrong.

    According to another source "He logged onto an (America Online) account that was registered on that computer and we traced it back to his phone number and address''.

    It's the 4th item down on the page, under "Suspected thief arrested".

    --

    [Set Cain on fire and steal his lute.]
  4. Re:Wait a minute... by leenoble_uk · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Running Jaguar I set up a fake account with no password on purpose. If my laptop was stolen I WANTED the thief to use it to get online. My real accounts were hidden from the login screen and my home folder was invisible. I had a penny-per-minute dialup ISP set up to make it easy for the thief to get connected. Using DNS update software I would be able to see the IP address at Dyndns.org if it was ever used.
    If the thief was to find the computer locked down from the start then they'd be far more likely to wipe and restore making this a lot more difficult.
    Unfortunately, now running Panther and making user account invisible makes the fast user switching a buggy nightmare. So in spite of the extra security features like FileVault I think it less likely I would ever see it again if it were stolen. I liked my security through obscurity.

  5. There is no story here by Mr_Silver · · Score: 5, Insightful
    From SFGate:
    Investigators knew where to look for the gear not because of unusually intrepid sleuthing but because Krastof allegedly used the computer to log on to an AOL account belonging to the system's owner, Peter Gascoyne.
    Please remove your tin foil hats, the idiot logged onto the AOL account of the person he stole the laptop from. The police and AOL merely traced it back to his house.
    --
    Avantslash - View Slashdot cleanly on your mobile phone.
    1. Re:There is no story here by trystanu · · Score: 5, Informative
      ... and even then AOL didn't help *that* much:

      White said investigators had asked AOL as a routine precaution to watch for any log-ons in Gascoyne's name. He said the world's biggest online service had reported a hit earlier this month but then dragged its feet in providing information about the phone line used in the connection.
  6. Re:MAC addresses? by crevette · · Score: 5, Informative

    Why make it so complex? The computer was reported stolen by Wells Fargo with all the information, so the FBI issued a request to AOL to notify them if anybody logs into such and such accounts. Once it happens, the FBI simply had to check the phone records to know what is the number of the guys connected and voila!

    I work at a phone company in a country without secret services and sophisticated hooks into any ISP and we would be able to pull that out in a matter of minutes.

  7. I bet they tracked him down by IM by H8X55 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Makes you wonder what sort of hooks the FBI has into AOL or other ISPs and what hardware identification is being transmitted at login.

    i bet it wasn't that complicated.

    fbiAgentd00d99: Yo man, what's up?
    LaptopThief2310: Not much, i just ripped off some computers! HA HA WOOT!
    fbiAgentd00d99: SWEET!
    LaptopThief2310: Yeah I rockxxorz. Now I'm takin' a pic of me, an all the computers i stoled w/ a sony cybershot i "found".
    fbiAgentd00d99: You pwn3! Send me that pic! I'm gonna put it on my website!

    There we have it folks, probable cause, as well as an IP address.

  8. Re:PC call home by Mattcelt · · Score: 5, Informative

    There are several software packages including Ztrace and Absolute Software's Computrace which deal with the issue of laptop theft directly. It seems very likely that these computers were protected with one of these type of programs.

  9. Re:Password protected? by rduke15 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Were they not running a password protected operating system, at least Windows 2000 or Windows XP?

    You must be kidding, but I'm not sure.

    It takes only a few minutes to change the administrator password on a Windows box with a Linux boot floppy.

    Done it a couple of times (on Windows 2000), for users who didn't know the admin password.

  10. Re:PC call home by miu · · Score: 5, Insightful
    I should state exactly why I felt the Herald version is more credible.

    The Yahoo statement:

    Investigators traced the computer to Krastof when he logged onto his own America Online account at home through one of the stolen computers, White said.

    and the Herald statement:

    "He logged onto an (America Online) account that was registered on that computer and we traced it back to his phone number and address,'' White said.

    I felt that the direct quote of Chief White was more credible, and less likely to be subject to an error of interpretation on the part of the reporter.

    --

    [Set Cain on fire and steal his lute.]
  11. Not spyware. The story is much simpler than that by Raphael · · Score: 5, Informative

    There is no need for any "Phone Home" software or anything sending the CPUID to AOL. The story is much simpler than that and rather low-tech:

    • Thief steals computer.
    • Thief tries AOL account found on stolen computer.
    • Account is known to have been compromised.
    • Connection type = dialup = phone number.
    • Phone number = address.
    • Address = thief gets caught.

    Nothing exceptional here. The FBI does not need any strange hooks into AOL. They only need stupid thieves. Case closed.

    --
    -Raphaël
  12. Re:Similar Experience by qtp · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If you had demonstrated the common decency to be a large financial institution, as Wells Fargo so considerately did, then the police would have been more than happy to help you.

    The absolute gall that you demonstrated by being a lowly private citizen cannot be tollerated and our law enforcement agencies cannot and will not encourage such anti-social behavior.

    --
    Read, L
  13. Re:PC call home by mess31173 · · Score: 5, Informative

    I work at Wells Fargo and there is a pile of 8 laptops on my desk and the images I apply to them don't have any "call home" software. FYI.

  14. Re:"You've got jail" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    I work for WF but do not mean to represent my employer here. Your answer pretty close to right on. Our network logs ALL accesses, but of course denies access to our intranet from the internet at large. Ergo, any request in the access log (like when OutLook tries to connect to our mailserver, for example)that originate outside the intranet are automatically red-flagged. Requests to certain ports within our network are a more serious red-flag as it indicates someone is starting internal application from outside the intranet. IPs are logged, tracert to AOL, have FBI get AOL's access log to match temporary IP/date/time to originating login... not exactly rocket science, folks... There are other applications that as a matter of operation 'call home', so really the moral of the story is that it is a dumb idea to steal computers from work unless you really know how the computer is configured.

  15. Re:Not spyware. The story is much simpler than tha by _Sprocket_ · · Score: 5, Informative
    An even better quote from another source reads:

    Investigators knew where to look for the gear not because of unusually intrepid sleuthing but because Krastof allegedly used the computer to log on to an AOL account belonging to the system's owner, Peter Gascoyne.

    Seems Reuters screwed up on the facts.