Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Free Software Tracking a Stolen Computer?

Posted by Cliff on from the locating-errant-hardware dept.

JeffTL asks: "By necessity, I carry around an Apple iBook running OS X Panther. In the event of its theft, I would like to have the thing send me its IP address, not only for the benefit of law enforcement but also so I could SSH in and trash my personal data with srm, while doing an SFTP backup of anything I forgot to back up. I am not really wanting a subscription, so I am looking for a free-as-in-beer (and if anything beyond a shell script is involved, free-as-in-speech would be much preferred to make sure that no one else is getting anything). Currently, I have a bash script that can create a report, and I am thinking about sending it using either e-mail or FTP. I am considering setting it up to where it only starts barraging me if a specific code is posted to an HTML document of my choice. Is there already something like this in existence somewhere for free? If not, does anyone have any pointers on how this can be done?"

6 of 137 comments (clear)

  1. Just wait for Apple DirectProtect by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    It will cost $199, but will have very cool design and play beautiful music on your cell phone when the laptop gets stolen.

  2. Re:Easy way out by Sancho · · Score: 5, Funny

    Good idea!
    ifconfig | mail -s YOUR LAPTOP WAS STOLEN email@isp.com

    mutt
    eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr DE:AD:BE:AF:00:00
    inet addr:192.168.0.1 Bcast:192.168.0.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
    UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
    RX packets:14883222 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
    TX packets:6501247 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
    collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
    RX bytes:3309542786 (3.0 GiB) TX bytes:385138942 (367.2 MiB)
    Base address:0xbc00 Memory:fc9e0000-fca00000

    Whoo, now I can get my laptop back!

    (of course, you could trace the email, but that's too easy :P)

  3. Pack it with thermite! by zcat_NZ · · Score: 5, Funny

    If you really want to be secure pack the free space in your laptop with sealed plastic bags of thermite. Wire a detonation circuit to recognise a special code from spare pins on the inside of the parallel port (basically, an electronic hardware interlock so it can't possibly go off accidentally) and have it read from a special URL every time the network comes up. If the correct code is present your laptop becomes worthless to the thief in very short order. With a bit of luck, he's got it on his lap at the time and won't be stealing any more laptops for a while.

    Or you could just use a crypto filesystem to protect your data, and claim the stolen laptop on your household insurance..

    --
    455fe10422ca29c4933f95052b792ab2
    1. Re:Pack it with thermite! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      Just as effective - put some builder's putty in the few spare gaps in your laptop - don't forget to add some wires attached to some old LED's or transistors stuck in the putty. Any thief is going to have the time of their life going through an airport.

  4. Just like an alarm sticker on a car by TEMMiNK · · Score: 2, Funny

    Just get a big vinyl sticker that says "Protected With GPS Tracking by GPSecure" even though this company doesnt exist, anyone scoping your laptop would think twice about it. They would only steal it if they wanted your data for some special purpose.

    --
    "The stupider people think you are, the more surprised they will be when you kill them..."
  5. Re:Very simple possibility by Goo.cc · · Score: 2, Funny

    If you don't want to have the computer slicked immediately, install a bunch of porn on it. That will keep them too busy to reinstall the OS!