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What Are the Best Laptop Theft Recovery Measures?

Posted by timothy on from the eternal-vigilance dept.

BarlowBrad writes "Yesterday my house was broken into and among other things two laptops were stolen. Getting past the feeling of violation, I am looking to the future and how to both prevent theft and recover computers should it happen again. I have found various services that claim to track and recover stolen laptops such as LoJack for Laptops, Computrace, GadgetTrak and Undercover, but I (obviously) have no experience with any of them. I also know that Intel will be coming out with a new anti-theft technology chip, but that isn't supposed to come out until the fourth quarter and I'll be replacing the laptops before then. Does Slashdot have a recommendation between these services or suggestions for another?" Read on for a related question about automating this process. BarlowBrad continues: "I have also wondered if there is a 'home brew' solution that I could cook up myself. I'm not an elite programmer, but I am somewhat computer savvy and open to ideas. At least one of the replacement laptops will have to be a Windows machine, but the other may be a Mac or run Linux, so ideally I'd want a solution for multiple platforms. Perhaps a script that sends an email with the IP address every time the computer connects to the internet? Or is there already something out there like that in the Open Source community?"

3 of 376 comments (clear)

  1. Computrace by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    At my school, all students are provided with a laptop. All computers come loaded with Computrace, and it has never failed to recover a stolen laptop...even ones that have ended up overseas after being wiped and sold on eBay. The only time Computrace fails is if a) the CMOS is physically replaced or b) the laptop never sees an internet connection again.

  2. It's too bad that Lojack for Laptops isn't by Animats · · Score: 5, Informative

    The real Lojack system, for cars, predates the Internet and GPS. It's pretty good. About 90% of Lojack-equipped cars are recovered when stolen. When you buy Lojack, an installer comes out and installs a little box somewhere on your car. You don't know where, and they have many alternative locations. It gets power from the car, so it keeps itself charged.

    The unit finds an FM broadcast station with the Lojack subcarrier and listens for a message with its serial number. If your car is stolen in an area with Lojack coverage (which includes most major US cities), a police stolen car report is copied to Lojack's computers, which then tell the subcarrier transmitter at the broadcast stations to start broadcasting messages with the unit's serial number. The unit in the car then starts emitting a beacon signal.

    Lojack has good integration with big-city police departments. They equip police cars with Lojack receivers at Lojack's expense. Any Lojack receiver that's emitting turns on indicators in police cars, showing direction and approximate range. When you see a police car with four antennas in a square on the roof, that car has a Lojack receiver.

    In Los Angeles, the LAPD's air force, both rotary and fixed-wing, has Lojack receivers. This has resulted in some dramatic stolen car recoveries. Cops like the system, because not only do they get cars back, they often find someone they want driving the stolen car.

    But "Lojack for Laptops" doesn't use that system. It just reports IP addresses when the unit connects to the Internet. A company called Absolute Software seems to have just licensed the Lojack name; it's apparently not part of Lojack Corporation at all.

  3. Re:Dynamic Waste of Time by dloseke · · Score: 5, Informative

    Recent products like Computrace/LoJack (same product, different brands) can be installed in the BIOS so a disk wipe doesn't affect them. The catch is that it has to be installed at the factory, so you have to buy the security software (and an annual subscription) when you buy a new laptop. Also, it isn't that hard to reflash a BIOS.... Not true at all...we install Computrace on all laptops and random desktops/servers in my business....we're a dell shop, so all the new dell laptops have the module for Computrace in the BIOS. Installing computrace activates the "persistence" module in the laptop. The annual subscription that we pay Dell is something like 36/year, so for 3 bucks a month, it's worthwhile.

    One thing we found out from experience is you want to followup with Absolute and make sure the machine is calling in daily, or whenever it's on (it tries once a day). If the machine is stolen but it hasn't been called in for 30 days or more, the recovery guarantee is not in place. They'll still try and recover it, but they won't give you the $1000 or whatever if it's not found. Also, you have the option to void the recovery guarantee and instead have a "data delete" option, so that any sensitive data on the machine is wiped with the hard drive.

    I've never seen a statistic on wiping the BIOS, but I'd be willing to be it'd be more difficult than beneficial. Besides, if someone's going to be so thorough to wipe the BIOS, they know the software is on there, and will be taking steps to avoid it getting it's beacon out to the net.

    Disclaimer: I have no relationship with Absolute (Computrace) other than I am a paying customer.