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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?"
Well for laptops you can install software that can help you track your laptop or protect your files from a remote location. There are ton of them out there, listed in the article below http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2387748,00.asp
If I park somewhere that has a reasonable chance of a smash-and-grab, I take valuables with me.
Period.
Who cares if it's locked down to something, if it looks like there is something valuable in the car, it's going to get broken in to. And if they can't take the thing they really want, they'll likely do extra damage, just because.
Other than that, I try to avoid leaving my car in locations that I worry about its safety.
Another non-functioning site was "uncertainty.microsoft.com."
The purpose of that site was not known.
Get a dog and keep it in the car.
...holding laptop, make sure to solder an unobtrusive on/off switch someplace you can reach but non-obvious on the briefcase (or connected to the briefcase by wire.
Fun! :)
(I had a friend who did something similar to the hood ornament of his Dad's Mercedes during the 80's when everyone was stealing them.)
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It's an old photographer's trick to keep gear in a diaper bag. Nobody wants to go near that (literal) shit.
They don't grade fathers, but if your daughter's a stripper, you fucked up. --Chris Rock
When I was carrying my laptop around in a slim jacket instead of backpack, I'd just put it under the floor mat on the passenger front side.
A ridiculous number of compact and subcompact cars have no trunk these days, they are glorified hatchbacks in effect. Although minivans and SUVsgenerally don't have trunks either....
rstory, as the submitter of this question, you neglected to provide a link to yourself and your /. profile doesn't seem very informative.
Can you please give us a few details. Particularly, oh I dunno, maybe some info on where you like to park your car? Thanks!!
P.S. FYI, you can post stories as ac.
If I'm going around with my laptop, I put it in the inconspicuous place in my car *before* I get in my car. Not after I've stopped and everyone nearby can see that I'm hiding something valuable.
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It is a lot harder to sell a laptop covered in stickers and scratches than it is to sell a laptop that is in mint condition.
It might not look professional, but that is kinda the point.
Don't know something? Look it up. Still don't know? Then ask.
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.
THE HONOUR OF THE KNIGHTS - CC Licensed Sci-Fi Novel
Surprised nobody else has said it, but it also helps if you have a piece-of-junk car. People don't expect to find anything worth stealing if you have visible rust and dents on a 10-year-old Ford or Saturn. I've never had a car broken into, and I frequently leave (small amounts of) cash in plain sight and a backpack with a laptop in the back seat.
I do photography on the side. That means laptop AND camera. First thing I do is use carrying cases and bags that don't advertise what they carry. My laptop bag looks like an army surplus hippie bag. My camera bag looks like a small backpack. If they are going to stay in the car, I make sure they are out of sight, usually in the trunk of my car. I don't make the mistake of parking my car THEN hiding my valuable, therefore advertising *where* to go to get the quick grab. I also drive a fairly common car that also isn't among the models that make the "top stolen" lists year to year. Not standing out in a parking lot has it's advantages. However, if you drive a vehicle that is largely labeled or *branded* (like BOB'S COMPUTER REPAIR or FRANK'S PHOTOGRAPHY), just ignore this and move to backups and insurance.
Backups. Your laptop likely has data you can't live without. Backup your entire user folder, and any data outside of it. Remember how you had to keep reburning that mix CD you loved before you got your mp3 player? Don't be cheap, use external drives.
Finally, Insurance. I'm still pricing mine out, but make sure that whatever you get covers theft wherever you are. PPA.com (for those based in the US) is an option I'm looking at as a photographer. It's a trade association that includes insurance in your dues, and covers a variety of situations that may not be covered by a regular policy. Also seems to offer quite a few resources for photographers (I am not yet a member).
Prevent by keeping it out of sight, but insure with backups and an insurance policy.
Go too Goodwill, grab a ratty looking Barney the Dinosaur. Cut a hole and insert.
Wait, are we still talking about theft?
I drive a Jeep Wrangler, which is as secure as a tent. Basically, it IS a tent.
So the passenger's side floor is pretty much always full of Dunkin Donuts trash. I slide my laptop bag under it all, throw a few empty coffee cups on top, and noone's going to think there's anything interesting to steal.
Out-of-sight, out-of-mind works very well.
tech related a question as you hoped. If you really want to fix it you need to address inherent flaws in consumer capitalism, market driven sales, and social inequality.
churches, children, whatever the hell a five minute window is, are not all universally shared and certified as morally sanctified places; in other words, thieves dont care. asking slaskdot what product we would consume in order to protect the products we consume is perpetuating the very same problem that causes the kinds of thefts you've outlined in the first place.
the only reasonable solution is to buy a reasonably sized laptop that does what you need; perhaps something used on ebay. Bring the laptop where and when you think you will need it, and its dated appearance will likely serve the dual purpose of deterring thieves who want a very nice looking laptop, as well as preventing you from using it as a suburbanite status symbol. backup your data often so that if and when the laptop is stolen, a quick restore to another relatively inexpensive ebay laptop will solve the bulk of your problems.
Good people go to bed earlier.
A 12 volt battery will only deliver 550 amps through a 0.21 ohm load. Since the human body is around 50,000 or more, your "friend" would have delivered a whopping 0.00024 amps to the would-be thief, which you can't even feel. Sorry, but I used to be a truck mechanic and the batteries were rated a good bit higher than 550 CCA. I touched both terminals numerous times, and you really feel nothing. I started trucks by shorting across the starter numerous times which touching the frame. Nothing.
Now, the ignition coil at around 20kV, would be a very different thing. I never experienced that first hand since everything I worked on was diesel, but my mechanic friends told me it hurt like a s.o.b.
having been the victim of a smash and grab myself (stole my GPS unit when I parked in a small public lot and went into a Qdoba Grill for about 5 minutes to pick up a meal to go), I'd say one of the best things you can do is make it appear there's absolutely nothing in your car or truck.
Most smash and grab thieves are looking through the windows of the vehicles they pass by for *anything* they think they might want to take and get a few dollars from. Spare coins sitting in an ashtray that's opened partially? Yep, enough reason to smash and grab! (They did it to my younger brother *3* times, stealing a total of about 79 cents, when he parked in his college's lot! If they even see a few pennies, they think maybe there's more than that in the tray they aren't seeing, and money's money.)
So as other people said, keep things in your trunk or even in the glove-box or center console, or under the seat if that's doable ... anything to keep stuff from being on display through your windows. Very few of these people would bother smashing your window just to take a guess that maybe you have something good in your glovebox or under a seat. They'd rather walk on to the next car or truck where they can see something definite inside.)
The exception to that rule is when someone watched you put something of value away in your vehicle. Years ago, I worked for a company that just purchased a new, high-end laptop for one of their salesmen. The day after I configured it for him and issued it to him, he went someplace to take a client to dinner and put the laptop, in its carrying bag, in the trunk of his car. Someone saw it, and when he got back, he found they had taken a crowbar to his trunk and pried it open to steal the machine. That's a different type of thief though, really.
Of course, people keep saying "Don't ever LEAVE anything in your car! Take it with you!" .... but I know this isn't always practical or realistic. Sometimes, you put an item at more risk taking it with you than leaving it in the vehicle -- or you really don't have a good place to put the thing if you take it with you. In the summer, I've had times I didn't even have any pockets in the clothes I happened to be wearing, so just taking my car keys with me was enough of a hassle. That's why I'd go with the idea of just ensuring the stuff is concealed outside of plain view, and try to do so in an inconspicuous manner, just in case someone IS watching you.
If, say, your only item(s) of value are locked in the trunk already, you might even want to just leave the windows rolled down or the car unlocked? I know a few people who do this regularly in high crime parts of town they live or work in, because all in all, replacing the broken window glass is more of a costly problem/risk than anything else. If the thief doesn't have your keys, they're not likely to steal the car itself unless they're enough of an expert that they were going to do it regardless of the doors being locked or windows being rolled up.
Police department IT guy here. We've got a couple of "bait cars" rigged with a computer system and a private network 3G aircard for comms. Onboard are hidden cameras, mics and video recording system, remote controlled door closers and locks, remote control windows, GPS tracking, remote engine shutoff and brakes, all sorts of fun stuff. They're not only used to catch car thieves, but also we'll leave stuff laying in the back seat of floor to catch car burglars too. Lots of hilarity ensues on the videos we record inside these cars. Especially when a subject hops into the back seat and tries to grab a backpack that the strap is tied under the front seat rails so you can't grab it and run, and all of a sudden the door slams shut, the window rolls up and they can't get out of the car. By the time they try kicking out the window, a couple carloads full of uniforms arrive to greet them.
My solution is simple: I'm 5'11 and 330 lbs, and I look like a rocker/biker. I leave my laptop at the bar while I go take a piss, and sure enough, it's still there when I get back to my beer. If someone has the steel balls to grab it, I'll track them down via GPS/WiFi, apply various blunt objects to their vital organs, and burn their house down... with the lemons!
Or you could just carry your laptop with you. That's what them fancy $20 tote bags with the straps and handles are for.
When I was more of a road warrior (read: when I still had a valid driver's license), I bolted a steel cage under my seat, where I could slide in the laptop and lock it under key. Aside from keeping it out of sight, it also meant people who knew where to look would still have to break into the car without setting off the alarm, remove the seat and unbolt the cage from the floor. Or whip out the plasma cutter :P Even if I forgot to lock my door, that would slow them down enough that they'll either get caught, or move on to another target.
I did catch a thief once, he was clawing at it with a wrench, so I took his wrench and beat him with it. That was the last time anyone ever tried to steal my shit.
-Billco, Fnarg.com