Lojack for laptops - Useful at college?

[totalnoob]

Just curious...Would tracking software like Lojack be any use at all at a college campus? I'm assuming that if the laptop is stolen by another student, any trace would wind up at the campus internet hub, and wouldn't be able to trace the computer to a specific dorm room. The campus has pervasive wireless, which means the laptop could also be entirely wireless with no hard connection.

Does this situation render Lojack software entirely useless/pointless?

 

[stlcardinals]

Lojack/Computrace works by the agent on the laptop calling home every 24 hours. All Lojack would have is the public IP address that the call was made from. They then contact the local authorities to handle the recovery.

I would assume any decent college's IT department would have some way of tracking down a stolen or rogue computer on their network.

Lojack/Computrace's ability to recover a laptop depends on the thief plugging the laptop into the internet and the local authorities co-operating with them.

We used Computrace at my former employer and had two laptops stolen. We didn't get either one back and only received our $1000 guarantee on one of them because of paperwork issues (make sure your accounting department is keeping copies of the invoices you give them). Also, they tout their remote data wipe to sell you the product. What they don't tell you is using the remote wipe will nullify your $1000 guarantee.

 

[totalnoob]

Thanks for the answer. The $1,000 guarantee seals the deal for me. Even if they don't find it, it's nice to have that assurance.

Nothing too confidential will be on it, so the wipe isn't important. Thanks again for the info.

 

[metalmania]

If the thief wipes the HDD and reinstall Windows, will LoJack work at all?

 

[stlcardinals]

If the thief wipes the HDD and reinstall Windows, will LoJack work at all?

Theoretically, the agent resides in the BIOS on the motherboard and hidden on the HDD. You can format the HDD all day long but the agent will still reside on it.

 

[corkyg]

You can change HDDs, and it should still be there.

 

[stlcardinals]

You can change HDDs, and it should still be there.

I know Computrace told us that if you changed HDD, the agent would reside on both HDDs and both would call home.

 

[PuppettMaster001]

I know Computrace told us that if you changed HDD, the agent would reside on both HDDs and both would call home.

We use Comutrace on our Toughbooks at work and the software resides preBIOS so a hard drive swap and a CMOS reset will not disable the software either. Knock on wood, I haven't had to report a stolen/lost laptop yet so I don't know how well it functions but it seems as if it would work as described. For the price, I think it is worth every penny.

Also, I am not sure if you college would get involved but since there are multiple access points around the school they would be able to narrow it down to the specific access point that the laptop is on then dig deeper from there.

 

[metalmania]

That's good to know. Thanks for the information!

 

[CurseTheSky]

Even if it is written into the BIOS (or pre-BIOS), it still works best on amateur (opportunity) thieves. Anyone that steals laptops for a living would probably know to strip the thing down and part it out on eBay.

With that said, it certainly does give a bit more piece of mind, but the best security policy is simply never to let it out of arm's reach. Even sitting at Starbucks, I will not get up to grab a coffee or throw something in the trash without taking my notebook with me, unless I have a friend sitting at the table. People can call me paranoid all they want, but all it takes is someone to grab hold of it and run off.

 

[stlcardinals]

Even if it is written into the BIOS (or pre-BIOS), it still works best on amateur (opportunity) thieves. Anyone that steals laptops for a living would probably know to strip the thing down and part it out on eBay.

With that said, it certainly does give a bit more piece of mind, but the best security policy is simply never to let it out of arm's reach. Even sitting at Starbucks, I will not get up to grab a coffee or throw something in the trash without taking my notebook with me, unless I have a friend sitting at the table. People can call me paranoid all they want, but all it takes is someone to grab hold of it and run off.

The two that were stolen at my former employer would fall under the stupidity category. Engineers leaving their laptops in their cars in plain view.

 

[CurseTheSky]

The two that were stolen at my former employer would fall under the stupidity category. Engineers leaving their laptops in their cars in plain view.

Exactly. Like I said, it CAN come in handy, but IMO it'll either be taken by someone who knows what they're doing and LoJack won't be able to track it (disassembled and parted out for cash), or the theft could have been easily prevented by common sense. If you have something valuable, be it a computer, phone, watch, jewelry, etc.; don't let it out of your reach (even just being in your sight in a public place doesn't cut it). People that leave a laptop sitting in a car make me laugh - is it really that hard to leave it in the trunk or at least put it on the car's floor covered with a sweatshirt? If people don't think there's anything valuable in the car, they're far less likely to break in.

I was looking up Kensington locks the other day for the added "convenience," but decided against it. If someone's really determined to get my stuff, they're get around the lock (bolt cutters are relatively easy to carry / conceal, and I find that onlookers would rather keep their nose out of the trouble than actually say anything), or if they're really determined to do harm to me in some way, they can just deface the locked-up laptop anyway.

The moral of the story is, if you value something, simply don't give others the opportunity to take it from you. There's absolutely no better security plan than that.

 

[TheStu]

My classmates would always use my laptop when I would walk away for a while. So I got something that would pair my phone to my laptop (because that would be on me regardless) and when it would leave bluetooth range it would automatically lock the laptop, and activate a secondary program that would tap into accelerometer in the machine to detect if the system gets moved or picked up. If it got picked up, it would go off like a car alarm.

It would then take pictures (1 a second) via the webcam. Later on that program got the ability to email those images.

So, no LoJack, but effective for my classmates.

 

[CurseTheSky]

My classmates would always use my laptop when I would walk away for a while. So I got something that would pair my phone to my laptop (because that would be on me regardless) and when it would leave bluetooth range it would automatically lock the laptop, and activate a secondary program that would tap into accelerometer in the machine to detect if the system gets moved or picked up. If it got picked up, it would go off like a car alarm.

It would then take pictures (1 a second) via the webcam. Later on that program got the ability to email those images.

So, no LoJack, but effective for my classmates.

Good God. What laptop / program is that? Sounds nice.

 

[santz]

My classmates would always use my laptop when I would walk away for a while. So I got something that would pair my phone to my laptop (because that would be on me regardless) and when it would leave bluetooth range it would automatically lock the laptop, and activate a secondary program that would tap into accelerometer in the machine to detect if the system gets moved or picked up. If it got picked up, it would go off like a car alarm.

It would then take pictures (1 a second) via the webcam. Later on that program got the ability to email those images.

So, no LoJack, but effective for my classmates.

yeah, what program are you using, We all would like to know!

 

[Tattare]

yeah, what program are you using, We all would like to know!

bump ^

 

[TheStu]

Gosh, sorry... I haven't checked this forum in a while...

The secondary program was called iAlertU, that was the one that used the Sudden Motion Sensor, and would sound an alarm if the laptop was disturbed.

The first was actually an AppleScript that someone had written. I modified it slightly (to have it call the second program) and re-packaged it as an application that would run at login.

Completely forgot to mention that these were OS X only. The script I think is doable in Windows, just not sure about iAlertU.