Ask Slashdot: Protecting Tech Gear From Smash-and-Grab Theft?

rstory writes "I seem to be hearing about more smash and grab thefts lately, from low-tech purse snatching to thieves after laptops and cameras. Bold thieves are even snatching stuff in church/day-care parking lots in the 5 minute window while a parent goes in to pick up their child. I often drive around with my laptop, and want to find the best way to protect against theft. Besides the obvious 'don't leave equipment in the car' solution, what else are people doing? Right now I just use a regular backpack instead of a fancy laptop case. I don't have a trunk, so when I leave the car I put the backpack on the floor of the back seat, sometimes throwing other junk on top. The only interesting thing I've found while googling is a couple of 'anti-theft' backpacks which have wire mesh to prevent cutting them open and a (thin looking) cable for securing to a stationary object. What do you do to protect your gear?"

Comments

Re:Get a dog?

[Technician]

This is not useful in hot weather. it may be illegal.

To fight the gas theft on the other hand, I keep two gas cans in the shed. I've had the shed broken into and stuff stolen. One nearly empty can has gas. It is a 5 gallon can with no more than 2 gallons in it. The other full can has sugar, water, and gas, lite on the gas. Just enough to provide the proper smell.

Not sure how to do this with a laptop though.

Re:Take valuables with you.

[Jeng]

Rather than a crowbar to pry open the trunk, instead they use a dent puller to remove the trunk lock.

Re:you can track your laptops

[S810]

I work for a Major Bank and we have BiOS "Magic" that will track the Wi-Fi Card MAC, HDD MAC and MB MAC regardless of how many times the HDD is wiped. We have made it so it would be more expensive to replace all of those parts than it would be buy a new laptop. It works as we have laptops stolen all the time and find them with the help of local law enforcement.

The Caveat is that it has to be on a the internet for us to track it. So if someone wants it to just be a local word processor to print to a local printer we will never know about it.

Remember...

[bhunachchicken]

Most thieves are opportunists, and unless they've been watching you and really, really, REALLY want what you've got, then simply locking the car securely is your best bet.

The other night, I was walking home (about 11:30pm, through East London), and there was a guy walking toward me. He was testing the door handles of each car he passed, until finally one opened. He took the stuff out that he found, throwing some of it away and pocketing whatever else it was he got.

I stood staring at him as he did this, quite incredulous that he would do this right in front of me, and he just looked at me and said, "Well, should've locked their car, shouldn't they?" and walked off, carrying on.

I didn't do anything because this was a very tall bloke, and was probably carrying a knife. I didn't call the police either, since, this being East London, he was no doubt part of a gang and knowing my luck I'd walk into him the following week.

So, lock your car and don't keep anything of value on show. Thieves won't smash EVERY car they come to - only the ones they know they can get stuff out of.

Re:you can track your laptops

[JustNilt]

As another said, the OP has no trunk. Personally, I 'd suggest something like one of these. This si just a quick result from a Google search but I have a buddy with a nice under-seat one. Myself, I have a padded carton inside my truck's diamond plate toolbox but these sorts of lockboxes can easily be placed behind a seat if there's no room underneath. The trick is to put the valuables in before your stop. If you're seen putting stuff in these, they know it's valuable and may either steal your car or simply pick the lock. Personally, I can pick a lock in about 10 seconds and my lockpick trainer in the Army could do it faster than I can use a freaking key. Not all thieves will have such skills but enough do.

Security is as much about not being stupid as anything else.

Re:you can track your laptops

[froggymana]

The location can be tracked as soon as your OS loads, you can wipe a laptop without ever loading the OS

This is why theft tracking shouldn't be left to the OS (or any program ran by it). There should be a separate piece of hardware, hidden inside the computer that would leach power off the laptop's battery/power supply (or possibly have it's own). Ideally it should have GPS and a 3G radio to send such tracking information to "the cloud". It would be nice to see a DIY/"opensource" version done of this done so some a company wouldn't be able to track you (as easily). This way even if the original OS was never loaded after a theft you could still track your precious laptop.

Re:Get a dog?

[networkBoy]

At my old apartments we had a guy stealing gas out of peoples cars.
My old beater truck had no viable way to lock the gas tank (I had a locking cap and he just broke it off, damaging the fill spout in the process).
so, I went to a shop that had done work for me in the past and we put a new fill spout up through the truck bed into the tool box. The old fill spout was connected to a saddlebag tank filled with diesel.

Found out who was stealing gas when the guy with the camero started having engine trouble the day after the diesel was missing from my truck.

I smiled.
-nB