How I Got My Stolen Laptop Back Within 24 Hours Using Prey
dougvs.tumblr.com
dougvs.tumblr.com
Refreshing.
That example aside, it doesn't require contrived thinking to fathom scenarios where an "anti theft" feature of a conveniently placed (extremely cheap, mass produced[, say 5 years from now]) phone might be intentionally used to spy on someone. Compare and contrast with existing wiretapping laws and consider how similar these services already are (at least in my mind).
It's also vaguely interesting that this user installed Prey and almost forgot about it, i.e. here Prey is basically your typical "crapware" that a tech friend might clean off the laptop along with accumulated toolbars and suchlike.
(Sorry for the fragmented English, somewhat inebriated)
Do you have a source for that? Frankly, I don't believe it.
wherein an unwitting supply teacher bought a stolen laptop
She bought a two year-old laptop from a student at an 'Alternative' school for $60. It had its serial number removed. Good luck to her in convincing any jury that she didn't knowingly receive stolen goods.
The judge did't rule that her privacy was violated, only that "a reasonable jury could find that they crossed an impermissible boundary."
Edit: actually, doing some more reading, it seems like the first case that I read was actually a freak incident. Other laws protect you. Now I'm curious about what case this person is talking about.
People fear things. One way of coping is to try to get everyone else to be scared of things, too. This article is a perfect place for that sort of thing: "Wow, you sure showed him, but I'm too scared to do anything bold in my life. So what you're doing is probably illegal, didn't you hear about that urban legend? So that's why I don't do anything bold, it's actually illegal and I'm a Good Person Who Would Never Do That."
I'm not saying that's the motivation behind this particular comment thread, but that's how I interpret it. If you can't have a parade, you may as well rain on someone else's.
One of the common ones is the 'fell through a skylight' version, which is apparently sort-of true according to this: http://overlawyered.com/2006/09/the-burglar-and-the-skylight...
In this case it was vs a school, and the case was settled before it was decided, which is as much a side-effect of the structure of our legal system as anything.
While I'm sure some questionable verdicts have caused unfair rewards in cases such as this, I have to imagine that it is very rare, or that the cases are actually much more complex than they appear on the surface.
It reminds me of people who laugh at the 'stupidity' of McDonald's hot coffee lawsuit ("well duh coffee is hot!"), where the more detailed information shows the reasonableness of the case (McDonald's coffee was dangerously, excessively hot, the plaintiff was in the hospital for eight days for third degree burns etc).
https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Liebeck_v._Mc...
I feel this is an interesting flavor of urban myth.
People panic about children touching hot dry things, like hot plates or coals. A hot coal (with no flame) isn't a huge danger, as the outer layer of skin on their hand will evaporate, creating a protective layer of gas. And the pain will make them pull back. It's still possible for things to go badly, but the risk is smaller than people may think.
On the other hand, a saucepan full of soup (or worse, oil) can easily kill a child if it splashes all over them. The hot liquid sticks to skin and clothes, transferring large amounts of heat (thus cooking multiple layers of skin).
So while a cup of coffee sounds safe (due to it being a familiar hazard, and people incorrectly assuming that < boiling point = not so dangerous), it's really really dangerous. Put it in an easily crushed paper cup, and hand it to a grandma in a car, and you are just asking for trouble.
To avoid that, I created a "honeypot" account which is automatically logged in on my machines (OS X), so at least the machine seems usable without reformatting (and Prey remains effective).
Any other similar tips or things to take care of to secure a Mac in particular?
I also password protect my laptop. I wonder if I shouldn't to encourage immediate use for information gathering.
Oh...
1. PC... pop out the BIOS battery to clear the BIOS password, re-flash the BIOS, DoD wipe the harddrive and install Windows fresh.
2. Mac... pop out the battery, wipe the PRAM, DoD wipe the harddrive and install OSX fresh.
I'm not sure I agree with you. Maybe they wouldn't be stealing laptops but instead be defrauding an entire state...
Every missing/recovered laptop story I've ever seen on HN has a screenshot of the thief on Facebook. I imagine there is some degree of selection bias. The story about the recovered laptop (with pictures of the thief) is much more interesting than the one about the laptop that disappeared forever. Plus, it's much easier to catch a thief when you have access to their Facebook profile. Still, it's funny to think about all these thieves running off with laptops just so they can get their Facebook fix.
I have it on my thinkpad, and despite numerous windows reinstalls and a couple hard drive replacements, it's still on my system.
I have prey installed in stand-alone mode, but instead of having it check for a url, i just have cron running it every 30 minutes and emailing the photo and screenshot and other info to a gmail account i made. I figure if it gets stolen, I might not have time (or remember) to turn on the url before its too late.
I also have the firmware pw set (Macbook Pro) - not sure how easy this it to circumvent - if you can't circumvent it then you can't reformat that easily.
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2391
I've lost laptops before, and always called Apple to make a note of the serial number. What I'm not sure of is whether or not Apple would hold the laptop if it was flagged, or return it back.
I'm second guessing my decision to FileVault the entire disc on the MBA, because I think this prevents automated login. The honeypot account makes a ton of sense.
Actually, all you need to do is add or remove a stick of RAM and then reset the PRAM 3 times in a row.
More: http://www.davidjmoore.com/2008/04/13/bypassing-the-efi-firm...
2. Create a Guest Account. This prevents you from using FileVault.
Now I have to decide between a potential thieves having access to my unencrypted files and a chance of me getting returned my laptop or knowing my files safe but having to buy a new machine
For more info on how I set things up: https://grepular.com/Protecting_a_Laptop_from_Simple_and_Sop...
So I guess it would be a reformat for the thief and no Prey for me?
Default boot into the first partition. If the system is stolen they will reboot and you can track. Because it has full admin they are less likely to reinstall.
Oh, but for actually using the computer? Yeah, somewhat impractical.
(My worry is not the $1000 I sunk on an easily-replaceable chunk of plastic wrapped around my data. It's my data. So my laptop boots up to "type the encryption key", and if you don't know it, you have to erase the disk and install your own OS, keeping my data safe. I'd rather my private data stay private than to take a picture of someone stealing my laptop. Also, my laptop never gets stolen.)
Says 'down for everyone'.
http://www.downforeveryoneorjustme.com/http://control.preypr...
since it embeds itself in the BIOS it will survive hdd replacements and os wipes, too. I have it on my thinkpad, and it's survived numerous hdd replacements and os wipes. the only downside i can think of is that it doesn't support linux.
On their homepage http://preyproject.com/ they have a "What people are saying" section in which they display recent tweets that mention prey. Nearly all of them are about this story.
The faith people on the other side of the Atlantic put in strangers astonishes me every time. Leaving the keys to your car inside the car, leaving the front door open go against the most basic sense of responsability I've been taught, to the point that I feel uneasy the whole travel when I have to leave the car unlocked while on a ferry boat.
L'occasione fa l'uomo ladro - Opportunity makes a thief
To me it seems odd that you would tolerate having to lock everything up.
Last time I checked, Windsor, Ontario, Canada has such a friendly neighborhood that they do often leave their home doors unlocked. Whether that's a good idea or not, it is up to you. Personally, I keep it locked, just for a peace of mind.
It also depends on where you are at, I wouldn't do it in a city I don't know or a part of town I don't like but some things are familiar and generally safe.
I’m from and grew up in a small German town (pop. 40,000) and I can pinpoint pretty exactly when I start feeling uneasy. I’m ok with leaving a car unlocked for a few minutes (not much more than five) but I would not consciously leave the keys (even if I only stop the car in front of my home to run in and get something) and I would always make sure that no valuable stuff is visible.
That’s the level of precautions I’m personally comfortable with but I know other people with different comfort levels.
(Of course there are always situations in life when you just do something stupid for no good reason at all except that it seemed like a good idea or comfortable at the time. The likelihood of being the victim of a crime even if you leave your keys is quite low, so sometimes you might just want to be lazy.)
My computer/phone was stolen but Prey wasn’t installed on it.
Is there something I can do?
Not much, since you must install Prey before the actual theft takes place.
If Prey isn’t installed (or if it wasn’t correctly set up)
there’s no way we can track your device to see where it is. Sorry!Anyway, I've just wrote an update for the HTTPS-Everywhere PreyProject ruleset for this and requested that it is pulled in to the main repo. It's currently sat here:
https://github.com/mikecardwell/https-everywhere/commit/aa9f...
But they're usually quite quick to pull in my rulesets.
prey is pretty damn helpful, and i install it on everything i've got.
btw i dont work for them, and i've never seen them advertise anywhere, but this would be good advertisement...