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"Back To My Mac" Catches a Thief
robipilot writes "Mac stolen, Mac comes online, owner connects using 'Back to My Mac,' owner takes picture of culprit, and voila, criminal caught. OK, it wasn't quite that simple, but here's an interesting story of using some built-in technology on the Mac to recover a stolen laptop."
I'm curious to know how would taking a picture of a musical instrument help in this matter...
How long before the paparazzi start arranging for Macs to be "won" by celebrities or "given" to them as "thanks". For that matter how long before a stalker arranges such a prize/gift?
;P
With this having been posted to Slashdot, Natalie Portman is going to wonder where all those Macs and cases of instant grits came from.
I didn't realize that png format was considered "awkward." :-)
http://www.rootstrikers.org/
I know, this being Slashdot we have to worry about the privacy issues, compare the Mac to somebody's Vista laptop, disparage the cops, fret about security in general, and not fail to point out that a viola is indeed a stringed instrument.
But there's just something so damned satisfying about imagining these two thugs being caught red-handed with the loot. There's the impression of the victim realizing that she may be onto something. Her "Now I've got you, you son of a bitch!" as the fatal snap takes place. The "Oh, shit" realization of the thief, probably followed by frantic thoughts of how he might go about flushing two widescreen TV's and assorted recreational electronics. The genuine gratification of being able to walk into the police station and say, "Here are photographs of the guys who ripped off our stuff, actually using some of our stuff, and we know who they are..." Perhaps then the THUD THUD THUD at the malefactors' door.
It's got all the elements of the classic cautionary tale, and just reading it should bring at least a brief and sarcastic smile to the face of anybody who's ever been robbed.
"Here's what's happening. You're starting to drive like your Dad..." - Red Green
Actually, no. I did a little reading on Back To My Mac and it has nothing to do with the OS. It's an application that works through .Mac and uses IPv6, UPnP and one or two other technologies. It allows you to connect to your Mac no matter where it is located, but from the sound of it it is a finicky application. It only worked because the thieves had left the computer signed in to its .Mac account and had UPnP on their local router. It also means she either hadn't logged out or the computer was set to automatically log in, something that generally seems like a bad idea but in this case worked to her advantage.
http://www.rootstrikers.org/
a) She lives on Ridgeview Avenue.
b) She's at the edge of the city's downtown.
c) Many of the homes in the area have been renovated recently.
d) She lives in a colonial-style house.
e) The house is diagonally opposite a church.
If that's not enough info: One of the laptops was a Macintosh belonging to Kait Duplaga, who works at the Apple store in the Westchester mall and thus knows how to use all its bells and whistles. Just tail her from where she works.
The only info in this that's actually relevant is the fact that she works at an Apple store, and that's she did not wish to be interviewed. The rest is either a reporter padding an article with irrelevant information, or attempting to indirectly violate her right to privacy.
Either way, very poor journalism.
Don't tell me to get a life. I had one once. It sucked.
Like most computers with built-in webcams, the MacBooks feature a prominent green LED that lights up when the camera is in use. This LED cannot be disabled in software. If Apple were actually spying on people with their computers' built-in cameras, someone would have noticed, fast.
here's a little poem i wrote entitled
"WHEN I STEAL YOUR LAPTOP"
When i steal your laptop
i'm going to use it offline
so i can harvest your personal info
with a data miner i have on my usb keychain
then i'm going to wipe the os clean
and change the mac address on your network card
and sell the fucker on kijiji
i'll meet you in the arby's parking lot
to sell you back your own machine
that you no longer recognize
because I put hello kitty decals on it.
And, oddly enough, I have a .25" piece of tape which can defeat any malicious code anybody may have inserted.
I run Ubuntu on my home PCs and changed the default login screen to list the users. I created a 'Guest' account and in it's description I put 'Password = 123qwe' (not the real password). The assumption is that a burglar , not knowing much about OS'es, will want to use the PC and will choose the easiest path to gain access. When they turn the PC on the login screen gives them a list of users and an option of choosing "Guest Account with the Password shown. All household users have been told to *never* use this account and why.
This 'Guest' account is CharRooted and has Firefox, IM and other Internet clients all on the desktop but that's about it. Under the hood it opens up SSH, VNC, Terminal Server and every other conceivable way of gaining access. It starts a script that every 30 minutes emails my Gmail account with IP address and connection information. Also, logging on to this account invokes a 'Nuke' scrip that will DBAN type wipe the system if I don't deactivate it within 7 days.
It's not a perfect solution but it has all the capabilities and features of the subscription tracking services that can cost hundreds a year and it's all pretty easy to setup. If any thief steals my PC and uses it to connect to the Internet I will know everything about their connection and have full access to the machine. If it's truly lost and I can't regain control after they login, it self destructs.
Now that I thinks about it, this should be a Ubuntu package or at least a HowTO.
-[d]-