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How Tracking Down My Stolen Computer Triggered a Drug Bust
- alexchamberlain 14y agoBrilliant story!
- ck2 14y agoGreat read. I am going to make all my mobile devices hit a webpage on a few of my servers silently on bootup (if there is a web connection) so I would at least have that ip. Also embedding a hidden image into the browser about:blank (startup) page.
- bostonvaulter2 14y agoI wonder if you could install something on the BIOS as well in case they try and wipe the Operating System (which they really should do if they want to be safe).
- wmf 14y agoJust use FDE; if the thief doesn't know the password everything is effectively wiped already.
- tedunangst 14y agoThat's how lojack works. You probably have it installed in your bios now.
- eli 14y agoNo need to engineer this yourself: http://preyproject.com/ http://preyproject.com/ has open source anti-theft apps for most platforms.
- jason_slack 14y agoGreat read and this brings me to ask what options there are for hard drive encryption on OSX?
- tankbot 14y agoOS X offers FileVault natively for full-partition encryption. There are also myriad 3rd party options. EDIT: See larry's coment :o)
- lawnchair_larry 14y agoPedantic note, it's actually full-partition encryption. The recovery partition and boot camp partitions, etc, are not encrypted.
- tankbot 14y agoToo true! My mistake, edited my comment to reflect this.
- jason_slack 14y agoSo it would still be possible for the thief to boot to the recovery partition and wack the encrypted partition. Clean machine but at least none of my data. Is there a Boot Loader or Bios password type option to beven prevent the user from holding down 'Option' and selecting a boot device.. NOTE: Yes I know it is EFI, but everyone knows what a BIOS password is, I think.
- schiffern 14y ago>Is there a Boot Loader or Bios password type option to beven prevent the user from holding down 'Option' and selecting a boot device.. If they know to hold down "Option," chances are they also know how to open up the case and swap out the HDD. Backup, encrypt, insure. It's the only way.
- kristofferR 14y agoWhen Firmware Password is activated, you can't use other HDs without entering the PW.
- EliRivers 14y agoIt is nice to hear a story involving the police in which they're helpful and effective rather than spraying protesters/journalists/bystanders with pepper-spray.
- ars 14y agoIf that's what you think of police you've been reading reddit too much. There's also a bit of the man bites dog thing going on. Nice police: Normal, not news. Bad police: Very unusual, so news.
- scottshea 14y agoI think the fact that the police officer was so involved with updating the writer is what stood out to me. It is rare that we see/hear a detailed explanation of what police work entails and unless we ourselves are the one they are speaking with it might never happen.
- yohui 14y agoWhen I saw the title, I wondered how getting your laptop stolen could get you busted for drugs. I can only suppose that, while I don't expect the average cop is a jerk, I did reflexively expect the average cop story to feature one.
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- maqr 14y agoI'd rather lose the laptop but have full disk encryption and keep my data secure.
- mike-cardwell 14y agoI have the best of both worlds. Turn my laptop on and it will automatically boot into Windows without even so much as a password prompt. From there I have Prey installed so I can track it. I never use this Windows installation though and it contains no valuable/personal data. It's effectively a honey-pot operation system. I have a Linux installation on there too (my "real" os) which takes up the vast majority of the drive and uses full disk encryption. I insert a USB stick at startup which contains the boot partition+loader and boot from that. I wrote it up here: https://grepular.com/Protecting_a_Laptop_from_Simple_and_Sophisticated_Attacks https://grepular.com/Protecting_a_Laptop_from_Simple_and_Sop...
- jorgem 14y agoNice. Has all this effort ever come in handy?
- mike-cardwell 14y agoNope. But then neither has my car insurance. ;) I've only been running this configuration for a little over a year anyway.
- jorgem 14y agoI speculate an ugly not-too-distant future: Mike crosses US border from Canada to US. Fancy government computers "lookup" Mike and flag his name because of suspicious posts on "hacker" news. Fun ensues, when agents discover hidden/encrypted partitions on computer. Computer impounded for further investigation. Mike has a bad day.
- dkersten 14y ago
- dirkdk 14y agogreat story! A friend of mine got her iPhone stolen, Find My iPhone didn't render anything for days so she gave up on it and got another one. This kind of technology should be standard on any new device
- sneak 14y agoIdiot. Who leaves valuables in a car in Detroit? Are you not aware that the windows are all that keeps someone from popping the trunk?
- msutherl 14y agoI had a similar experience that took place over the course of a single day in which I tracked down that thieves in real-time and confronted them in a parking lot. Instead of calling the cops, and since they had taken money and not an actual laptop, I had them give me collateral and gave them 2 weeks to give me money back in exchange, which they did after. I actually did write up and submit a police report, but it was about 3 months before I heard anything from the police. Lessons learned: (1) sometimes it's better to roll up your sleeves and do it yourself and (2) some (most?) people legitimately want to come clean.
- JoeAltmaier 14y agoMostly agree with his conclusions, but for one. I didn't think Batman was all that great.
- terrapinbear 14y agoOh Make Magazine, please put your "close this slide show" button on the upper right instead of the upper left. I'm conditioned to look for X icons to close out of modal windows on the upper right not the upper left. Thaaaaaaanks.
- terrapinbear 14y agoI have no way of minimizing your "toolbar" at the bottom of your web site either. Weren't you created by O'Reilly.com?
- omgsean 14y agoToo bad that some guy is going to spend years and years in prison over drug charges when he should really only be charged with theft but I guess the lesson is don't go stealing traceable devices when you're running a dope operation.
- idunno246 14y agoSeems more likely he accepted the laptop as payment for drugs. The original thief was smart enough not to turn it on, hence taking a couple days to show up.
- rheide 14y agoIn what way could that possibly be 'too bad'?? "Too bad that some guy is going to spend years and years in prison for provable murder when he should really only be charged with stealing candy" Idiot gets caught and gets what he deserves. All is well.
- omgsean 14y agoPossession of marijuana and murder, two completely analogous things. I certainly hope all the people he victimized with his marijuana possession get compensated.
- agumonkey 14y agoAs someone said in the article comments, if you liked that story, go watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4oB28ksiIo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4oB28ksiIo Defcon 18 - Pwned By the owner What happens when you steal a hackers computer zoz
- ginko 14y agoIt's surprising that apparently almost no laptop thief takes the time to wipe the laptops. That's the first thing I would do if I were in a business like that.
- jakejake 14y agoThey probably aren't really laptop experts & don't have the install disks either. But you'd figure the word would have gotten around by now that these things can phone home. I have heard of muggers stealing cell phones and taking the time to demand the pass code as well, so they're getting smarter about it.