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Mac Security Alarm System

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the get-kicked-out-of-the-office dept.

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."

19 of 243 comments (clear)

  1. But... by Crasoum · · Score: 5, Funny

    Will people ignore it just like a car alarm?

    1. Re:But... by Neoprofin · · Score: 4, Insightful

      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.

    2. Re:But... by fastgood · · Score: 5, Insightful
      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.

  2. One Tiny Loophole: by dteichman2 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.

    --


    Silence is golden... and duct tape is silver.
    1. Re:One Tiny Loophole: by tonydiesel · · Score: 5, Informative

      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?

    2. Re:One Tiny Loophole: by netsharc · · Score: 3, Interesting

      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.

      --
      What time is it/will be over there? Check with my iPhone app!
  3. This is going to be obnoxious by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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?

    1. Re:This is going to be obnoxious by MobileTatsu-NJG · · Score: 3, Insightful

      "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.

      --

      "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)

  4. Obstrusive? by immakiku · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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.

  5. Good idea, but you CAN wreck a computer... by Parallax+Blue · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ...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.

  6. Good to know... by irving47 · · Score: 4, Interesting

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

    --
    I had a sucky sig.
    1. Re:Good to know... by Phroggy · · Score: 4, Informative

      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.)

      --
      $x='S24;r)>63/* h@<5+oZ)32"5cz';$me='phroggy'x$];
      $x=~y+ -xz+\0-Tx+;print$_^chop$me for split'',$x;
  7. More Mac Theft Software by pHatidic · · Score: 4, Informative

    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.

  8. Video of it in action... by antdude · · Score: 4, Informative

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

    --
    Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
  9. Mute? Headphones? Sleep mode? Power off? by RootsLINUX · · Score: 3, Insightful

    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. :)

    --
    Hero of Allacrost, a FOSS RPG for *NIX/*BSD/OS X/Win
  10. Re:What if by jimijon · · Score: 3, Insightful

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

    --
    Mind | Body | Spirit | Cash
  11. Not the best security, but would had saved our.. by Paska · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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.

  12. The Mac Decoy Pro by Skevin · · Score: 4, Funny

    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

    --
    "Twice half-assed makes an ass whole." --Solomon K. Chang
  13. GPS helped us find a stolen laptop. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    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. :) )