Mac Security Alarm System

RogueAce writes "A program named iAlertU sounds a screeching siren when someone attempts to steal your Macbook. Thanks to the sudden motion drop sensors that Macs use to park the hard drive, iAlertU can detect when your Macbook is being picked up, moved or closed. Also, by using the handy remote that comes with the Macbook, you can turn the alarm on and off like you would a car, which the Macbook responds to by making the all too familiar chirping sound and a flash and flicker of the screen. The code behind it is from a guy named Christian Kleins."

Comments

But...

[Crasoum]

Will people ignore it just like a car alarm?

Re:But...

[Neoprofin]

Probably not until you've heard it for the thousandth time. So the one guy in your office who keeps coming back from lunch and forgetting to turn it off the alarm, will as usual, ruin it for everyone.

Re:But...

[fastgood]

the one guy in your office who keeps coming back from lunch and forgetting to turn it off

Make an audible alarm that only goes off when the patented magnetic power cord is detached (accidental or otherwise).

* or remotely trigger a second magnet -- hidden in a backpack -- to pull your new $25/ounce toy out of the wrong hands.

Re:But...

[onebecoming]

Salling Clicker can do this if you have a Bluetooth-enabled cell phone. I'm not sure if there's a built-in proximity alarm, but you can set AppleScripts to run when you go out of range or return.

Hmm, looks like there's finally a Windows version, too. It's always nice when the best software comes out for Macs first.

Re:But...

[binkzz]

For colleagues we offer the optional iHammer, which offers a revolutionary batteryless alarm disabling system.

Re:But...

[BillyBlaze]

Slashdot is one of those few places where saying something is "patented" doesn't make it sound cooler.

Re:But...

[drspliff]

$25/ounce..

Whoah dude, if I stopped smoking weed for a few months, I'd easily be able to buy one of these little babys (only to get it stolen a few days later).

But...

[artificialj]

Can you get flashy rims on your macbook?

One Tiny Loophole:

[dteichman2]

What happens if say.... the computer isn't turned on? It's a neat idea, but it has a severe shortcoming. People don't steal computers (usually) while they're still on. They make off with them when you leave the bag unattended.

Re:One Tiny Loophole:

[tonydiesel]

Aah, but see here's a difference for Mac users. Most of us never turn our computers off, we just put them to sleep...

So, the real question is... what happens when the computer is asleep?? Does it still work?

Re:One Tiny Loophole:

[friedmud]

Not too deviate too far from the conversation... but all _real_ PC laptops (ie those with mobile chips, not those "desktop replacements") can do this as well...

My tabletPC _never_ gets turned off... and can sleep for well over a week and still have plenty of juice after a full charge.

Friedmud

Re:One Tiny Loophole:

[netsharc]

There are 2 different sleep modes: Suspend To RAM, where the computer is off except for the RAM, which is constantly recharged so it doesn't lose its contents, and Suspend to Disk (the so-called Hibernation in Windows), where the data from RAM is saved to disk, and the computer is really powered off. Both resume where you left off (all applications open, etc), but Suspend to RAM is quicker because it doesn't need to read the data from disk, but STR also eats up the juice because, as I said, the RAM chips need to be constantly supplied with electricity.

Re:One Tiny Loophole:

[ediron2]

Thinkpads, Dells, Compaqs, sonys, toshibas... In a decade and under five major brands, including the last 4 doing software QA *USING* a lab of several different models of Sony's and Toshibas, I have *YET* to have a stock Windows laptop handle hibernate/awaken 100% properly. Some app or service or driver won't resurface, the machine corrupts a working file every tenth restart, some app starts hemorrhaging memory (forcing a reboot within an hour), rarely the machine locks up completely, or whatever.

It also takes 3 or 4 times as long to 'reawaken' a hibernated windows PC as my iBook ever needs.

OSX literally does this so efficiently that when working off battery, I routinely *close* my laptop temporarily for any pause in my work, even if it is just a minute or two.

That, coupled with enough processing power to do minor video edits, etc and a 6-hour battery life for conservative use (or 4 hrs of DVD-playing) and the computer itself just quietly mocks every other pc-owner in the room when I use it for meetings, conferences, in-flight, etc. I can't count how many times people have asked, muttered, or complained after seeing my iBook. A macBookPro is DEFINITELY in my near-term future.

Disclaimer: I own some Apple stock. Caveat: I 'switched', and then I bought stock because I was impressed by the above stuff. Curious to fanboy in less than a year.

This is going to be obnoxious

[Anonymous Coward]

Car alarms are useless enough. Do any of you run to see if a theft is in progress when you hear one? Neither do I, because we've all heard too many of them.

And people can't even remember to turn off their cell phone ringers. What makes you think they're going to remember to turn off their laptop theft alarms?

Re:This is going to be obnoxious

[MobileTatsu-NJG]

"Car alarms are useless enough. Do any of you run to see if a theft is in progress when you hear one? Neither do I, because we've all heard too many of them."

That's a bit of a simplistic view. If my car alarm goes off, I go check on it and make sure somebody hasn't broken a window or something. I've seen others around the complex do this, too. Even if somebody did break into my car and I didn't hear it, they still wouldn't easily be able to start it. When the alarm goes off, it kills the ignition.

All that said, I can't imagine a would-be car thief trying to steal a car while the alarm's going off. Besides being annoying, I'd be afraid of Mr. Owner showing up with a baseball bat.

"And people can't even remember to turn off their cell phone ringers. What makes you think they're going to remember to turn off their laptop theft alarms?"

Heh. Not a great comparison. Everywhere I've worked, especially in cubicle environments, you learn pretty quickly to not be obnoxious with your phone. Maybe people are too polite to raise a fuss when a cell phone goes off in a restaraunt, but coworkers won't tolerate being annoyed on a daily basis. I've seen this happen. The chairman of the board at one place I worked actually had a group of people approach him and say "turn that damn thing down." Why would a laptop alarm be any different?

Just to be clear, though, I'm picking on your analogies, not on your point. I agree that this is probably a pretty useless technology, at least for wide-spread use. The stupid thing about it is that it probably has no real way of knowing who the rightful owner is. I suppose it could be password protected, that's a start I guess. I actually think that a remote (not unlike the ones used with a car alarm) would be a little bit more useful. It's a specific device that, at least in theory, only the owner would have. If it's 'armed', the computer won't do jack shit until the remote deactivates the security system. A system like that could POTENTIALLY work if it's developed correctly, but ... well if you're shaking your head I can't say I'd blame you. Personal computers are a little too easy to rearrange for this sort of system to work well. Okay, you win, I don't have a great solution to the problem either.

Obstrusive?

[immakiku]

How many people are going to want to lock and unlock the laptop everytime they walk away? I know a lot of people barely want to do the WinXP windows+L everytime, much less lock and unlock with a remote control.

Thinkpad Active Protection System

[Devil's BSD]

Anyone know if this can be adapted for the Thinkpad's active protection system? It's pretty much the same thing, as far as I know...

Re:Thinkpad Active Protection System

[qwix]

Anyone know if this can be adapted for the Thinkpad's active protection system?

Here: http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Script_for_theft_ala rm_using_HDAPS

Good idea, but you CAN wreck a computer...

[Parallax Blue]

...unlike a car. When someone tries to steal a car and a car alarm goes off, the car itself isn't going anywhere (although you may have a broken window or two.) Unfortunately, when someone tries to steal a Macbook and the iAlertU alarm goes off, I don't think the Macbook will fare too well as a result. Most likely it would be dropped out of sheer surprise, or dropped/thrown in the process of trying to escape the irate Mac owner and the local security guards.

Still, I suppose even an inoperable Macbook with the hard drive intact is better than having all your corporate and personal data stolen.

Re:Good idea, but you CAN wreck a computer...

[ergo98]

There is a video linked on the page that shows it to be enormously sensitive, basically sounding the moment the laptop senses the slightest movement. Of course the actual program doesn't appear to be released (strange that unreleased vapour is given a Slashdot story, but whatever), however it seems legitimate given that it's using a library someone else created, already demonstrated to provide this sort of functionality (e.g. using a Mac laptop as a level).

Odd that the values from a hard drive protection mechanism are even available to the software. I would have thought that it would simply be a boolean toggle that the BIOS immediately reacts to instantly, not relying upon the operating system in any way.

Good to know...

[irving47]

I'll remember to plug my headphones in the next time I need a new MacBook.

Re:Good to know...

[Phroggy]

When you plug headphones into a Mac, the audio is rerouted away from the speakers in software, not hardware. This allows things like USB speakers to work, so when you plug headphones in, it mutes the USB speakers. So, in theory, this software should be able to override that and always use the built-in speakers even if headphones are plugged in. (I doubt the current feature has this feature, and it probably wouldn't be easy to implement, but it should be possible.)

Re:Heartfelt note to recent "switchers"

[lordmoose]

You seem pretty insecure about your Mac status. Also, I doubt that a "real Mac user" would take the time to categorize the actions of others and then type up a post about it.

nice feature

[v1]

That's a nice novel use for an otherwise unrelated technology. I'm sure the SMS wasn't intended for security, but it works well for it.

As for being off... I wonder, does anything run while the laptop is asleep? My powerbook has probably spent less than 5 minutes turned off in the last four months. Most users close the lid and sleep it. (my powerbook draws the same 2 watts when it's asleep as when it's off, so why bother turning it off?)

A firmware hack might enable the alarm to wake up the book if it's moved. I assume the PMU/SMU is controlled by flashable firmware. Also, the SMS is in the older powerbooks also - this article only mentions the macbook pros, I wonder if it works in the older models also?

Re:nice feature

[Phroggy]

That's because your computer wasn't really playing the music - your CD-ROM drive was playing the music, all by itself, and there's a little grey wire that runs from the CD-ROM drive directly into your sound card, completely bypassing the CPU.

Some CD-ROM drives have two buttons on the front, instead of just a single eject button. If it has two buttons, the left button is a play/next track button and the right button is stop/eject. They'll usually have a headphone jack on the front as well (which only works for CD audio, not anything else from the computer). Take a CD-ROM drive that has two buttons, an AT (not ATX) power supply, and a pair of speakers plugged into the headphone jack. Pop in an audio CD and hit the left button. Voila, you've got a CD player, without a computer.

Note that iTunes, modern versions of Windows Media Player, etc. read the audio data off the CD and process it through the software; they don't tell the CD player to play the CD directly. This also means you can play CDs in iTunes/WMP if that little grey wire is missing.

Coffee Shop Use Case

[buckhead_buddy]

This is great news. There's a coffee shop in my town with a friendly college crowd and free Wi-Fi networking.

My problem arises when I take my old Powerbook in there and realize I need to use the restroom. The crowd is pretty honest and I'm pretty quick in the facilities, but I really hate packing up my whole setup and taking it into the stall with me. This might allow me that feeling of security to leave my old Powerbook out while I take care of business.

While there's still some risk involved, it sounds like this will be just the thing to make me:

• Carefree and proud to be a Mac owner.
• Careless about risks and have my computer stolen.
• Embarassed when someone bumps my table and I'm caught with my pants down.

I'd probably risk this with my old model Powerbook, but I don't think I'd do so if I upgraded to a new MacBook Pro.

Re:Coffee Shop Use Case

[MobileTatsu-NJG]

"Embarassed when someone bumps my table and I'm caught with my pants down."

Look on the bright side: If you keep pulling your pants down while browsing the web at a coffee shop, sooner or later you'll see a rise in available bandwidth.

More Mac Theft Software

[pHatidic]

I'd recommend Undercover by Orbicule. It runs continuously in the background, and if your laptop is ever stolen then you call up the company and they set it to transmit it's location every time it connects to a network. Of course since my laptop has never actually been stolen I can't really tell you whether it works or not.

Just hold down the power button for a few seconds

[iamacat]

This turns off the notebook without any software overrides (otherwise you wouldn't be able to restart after a bad OS crash). Then steal all you want.

Video of it in action...

[antdude]

The poster didn't mention it, but there is a streaming video showing this alarm in action. Quite amusing to me.

Mute? Headphones? Sleep mode? Power off?

[RootsLINUX]

What if you have the audio muted or really silent, or the thief plugs in headphones? What if the laptop goes into sleep mode? What if the battery runs out, or, if the laptop is plugged in, they unplug it and wait for the battery to die?

There are too many ways around this so called "security" mechanism to be anything more than a gimmick. Although I will credit it because a theif that has no idea about or previous experience with this software is going to get caught red handed. :)

Re:Mute? Headphones? Sleep mode? Power off?

[RubberDogBone]

What if you pull the battery, do this do that whatever. Too complicated.

What if the theif simply carries a sound-proof case in which to put his new prize?

Cheap, simple, fast, works for any laptop, etc.

You guys talking about plugging in headphones and doing on-the-spot mods are thinking too hard. Think like someone on the prowl for a laptop:

The problem is that it might make noise. You want the noise to stop. So you carry a well-insulated case and beat your feet, which any decent "office creeper" thief is going to do anyway. Plus the case puts the object out of sight.

Done.

Plenty of time later to figure out how to disable the noise. Most fences can do that for an extra cut. Not a problem.

Re:What if

[jimijon]

Don't you know that Mac users rarely turn the computer off? Only after a system upgrade of course.

rfid?

[icepick101]

Why not use some type of RFID system, where the owner keeps an RFID tag in his/her pocket. Once they move too far away from the laptop (2 or 3 feet?), the alarm sounds. Rather than making a conscious effort to arm the laptop, it would be automatic.

Not the best security, but would had saved our..

[Paska]

This setup may not offer the best line of security, but it would had saved the Macbook we have in our retail store. (Apple Australia)

We had a group of normal gentleman come in, two of them starting a conversation with our sales staff. The other gentleman who came in walked around to browse, and without being seen by our sales staff who were busying talking to the other man used bolt cutters to cut the metal wire security device and placed the Macbook in a bag and walked out.

This was all caught on video, but there's not much we can do now since we can't identify any of them.

Our store manager considered options to prevent this in the future but everything was just to expansive.

Until I implement our own in-house security system (Network based, if a local server is unable to ping a particular desktop/laptop it'll sound an audible alarm) I'll be installing this software on our Macbooks.

Re:I remember getting burgled

[Anonymous Coward]

He also took my laptop out of its case, opened the screen, turned it on and booted to the Windows login screen. And that's how I found it.

He was looking for a Linux laptop maybe? :)

Re:Just hold down the power button for a few secon

[he-sk]

Even better, hit Ctrl-Apple-Power which reboots the Mac instantly (kinda like Ctrl-Alt-Del on MS-DOS).

The Mac Decoy Pro

[Skevin]

I work in an office where stolen property is nearly a common occurance (a stranger came in and simply sauntered off with a petty cash box the day I started working there). To guard against this, I keep my Mac Decoy Pro in my desk.

What's a Mac Decoy Pro, you ask? It's an extra nonworking Macbook Pro. Looks just like the real functional thing, just sitting there waiting to be taken.

Where did I get it? Well, when I heard that Powerbooks were going to use Intel processors, I bought a Macbook Pro with the express intention of swapping out the hard drive, memory and processor: the first two I did with nary more than a dented/warped casing. The latter... well, my screwdriver slipped and broke several components off the main board. I tried the purchase just the notebook mainboard from Apple, but essentially, they told me to go screw myself*. So with a heavy heart and a sigh of resignation, I did what any self respecting geek would do: I played poker for an hour until I had enough to buy another Macbook Pro. I've reassembled the broken one, which I leave out in the open in my cubicle when I go home at night. If it gets stolen, then that's my alarm indicator that it's time to leave the company.

* I'm still wondering that "incredible level of service" I keep hearing from Mac users.

Solomon

GPS helped us find a stolen laptop.

[Anonymous Coward]

In the last two years I worked for a company that had a handful of laptops with custom GPS hardware inside the cases. No software controls, just hardware added to the inside of the case set to transmit under certain circumstances. They also had software to report back to a central server whenever they were connected to the internet.
Laptop was stolen, theft was noticed, word went out. Laptop booted up, transmitter in laptop transmited. Laptop booted from CD without going into the case and turning the transmitter off, laptop began transmitting continously. Windows format and install takes a while, so the signal was transmitted for more than an hour. Some wandering around with recievers until company security was sure they had the right apartment. Police called and informed of the situation and that company security is going to get the laptop back, now, would the police like to meet them there?
End result was laptop recovered in less than 12 hours, and thief in jail for felony theft. The laptop was gone longer as evidence than it was gone with the thief.
It is expensive, it is not perfect, and I have no idea how you would get it into a case with as little freespace as a
Mac laptop, but it can work very well.
I would be more specific but I signed one of those NDA's that some companies love so much.
The main starting problems would be the usual, cost, how to fit it in the case and maybe power consumption. Also, a big hurdle might be getting the police to declare a GPS signal probable cause to go into where ever the laptop is. Especially if the signal is not currrently transmitting. My previous employers solved that last one by sending there own people and then reporting the whole mess to the police, but most of us individuals don't have those resources. (Maybe that is a good thing, should /. readers be trusted with our own armed security? I know I shouldn't be. :) )

Turn on and off with the remote?

[aliquis]

So what stops someone else from turning of your elite alarm?

Re:Turn on and off with the remote?

[phillymjs]

With the Apple remotes, you can pair the remote and the computer so it only responds to your specific remote.

~Philly

Setting off the alarm while travelling.

[edunbar93]

Most laptops get stolen in airport terminals. What will be the point of having an alarm go off when the laptop is picked up, when the user is constantly picking it up himself?