Software package to track computer theives?

[Blackjack200]

I was reading this thread: http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?p=30969091 about Zoz, a hacker who had a computer stolen from his room. He was able, with some luck and some ingenuity, to use Dyn DNS to track his computer when it logged onto the internet, and SSH and VNC to install key loggers and eventually figure out who the user was and where he was located.

As someone who's had a computer stolen out of his house, I thought 'wouldn't it be great if someone wrote a software package that would make tracking the theifs easier.' I'm probably the last person in the world to develop something like this as my coding career is limited to some VBA scripts and a couple of courses in C++ back in college. But at a high level, the software would create (or work through) a user account that had no password. I imagine most thieves are lazy and won't bother trying to wipe the hard drive and install a new operating system. When the person used the installed browser (with no admin rights, the user has no choice) it would start trying to contact the owner. There could be a suite of tools installed to make tracking the theif easier. Keyloggers, webcam scripts, etc.

I guess my question is, is any of this practical? Has someone else already had this idea?

 

[FoxFifth]

This came free for one year on my laptop -- not sure it does everything you describe but may be of interest: http://www.absolute.com/en/lojackforlaptops/home.aspx

 

[hulkhelton]

most smart thieves wipe out a computer as soon as its stolen before they connect to the internet.
then if you build a hardware solution people will complain about being tracked.

i do know someone that tracks all his vehicles by using sprint family locator and keeping the phones hidden and wired in to be always charging.

he keeps track of his kids, but something like this could probably be adapted to a laptop.

 

[Blain]

Software package to track computer theives?

> PREY <

 

[uberman]

This is probably just me, but if my laptop was stolen, bounced around screwed with, I would prefer a replacement. I figure most data on my computer could disappear or get wiped out.

Is it just me?

 

[Chiefcrowe]

no, i feel the same way uberman.

I've never used a laptop tracking service, but personally since the data is the most important for me, i would just encrypt it and keep backups in a secure location.

 

[Shaotai]

We use Computrace at work, which is the Corp version of LoJack. It's pretty amazing, I can use geotracking, wifi triangulation and IP resolution and see where my machines are. If they get stolen, they have a recovery guarantee also. They wipe the machine, and reinstall Windows, I can see all that too. Who's logged in, what software they are running, etc...