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Cool Stolen MacBook Pro Recovery Story
- Thread starter lexus
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I agree this is a very cool little app and can definitely aid in the recovery of a stolen laptop.
However I don't like the idea of giving so much control of my machine to a 3rd party. Yes, they appear to be on the up & up right now, but what if they run into financial issues and decide to start locking their clients machines up if they don't pay a ransom? Or what if they are hacked and some one else decides to do this?
However I don't like the idea of giving so much control of my machine to a 3rd party. Yes, they appear to be on the up & up right now, but what if they run into financial issues and decide to start locking their clients machines up if they don't pay a ransom? Or what if they are hacked and some one else decides to do this?
Moral of the story: Format the MB you steel before using it.
Unless of course the person has activated a firmware password as suggested by the Undercover folks. Then you'd have to know how to disable that...the vast majority of thieves aren't that clued in.
It is a little sad to see how long it actually takes the whole thing to play out even when the Undercover folks have the info they need within minutes. It takes the ISP a full twelve hours to get the address of the person to the cops? And then of course the cops and courts have to do their thing. I understand that laptop theft isn't a high priority, but you'd think things could move a little faster when a slam-dunk, but possibly time-sensitive case like this comes up.
I just have to ask... is that thief sitting on the toilet?
Anyways, this program sounds like it may be too good to be true, but if not, wow!!
Anyways, this program sounds like it may be too good to be true, but if not, wow!!
nice story, but I tend to be on the cynical side, as well.. it seems staged.
at any rate, the software probably does have a good chance of helping in the case of a robbery.. most thieves probably aren't smart enough to format the drive/replace the drive entirely.. or even if they are, they probably don't have disks to do so.
at any rate, the software probably does have a good chance of helping in the case of a robbery.. most thieves probably aren't smart enough to format the drive/replace the drive entirely.. or even if they are, they probably don't have disks to do so.
Nice piece of software.
I imagine this will work for a while. Then once the word gets out to the thieves they will adjust and do what needs to be done to eliminate this possibility.
When I get a MacBook, I am purchasing this asap.
My mom says it is amazing and its worth every penny.
I always mention her in my posts. She is just so cool.
My mom says it is amazing and its worth every penny.
I always mention her in my posts. She is just so cool.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106482
The firmware password can be easily disabled by someone with physical access to the machine, but they'd have to be smart enough to realize it needed to be done and then would have to know the trick to do it. Your average thief won't even get to step one.
i don't believe this story one bit, and as a professional laptop thieve i tell you that the first thing a real pro do is remove the hard drive and install a new one so the software is pointless the only way to really be safe is to have hardware chip to do that
i tell you that the first thing a real pro do is remove the hard drive and install a new one so the software is pointless the only way to really be safe is to have hardware chip to do that 
A real pro isn't going to get caught like this. Those who make a living stealing and selling technology likely have a clever little set up for wiping/changing HDs in little closed garden network where things like this couldn't dial out. Those pro thieves are also the ones who will easily slice through laptop cables etc.
This app and the laptop cables are for trying to catch the opportunistic thief who saw the laptop sitting on a table for a second too long and figured s/he would get away with carrying it off. Or the ones who break into a house to take some stuff to sell for easy cash. And the opportunistic thief is probably still in the majority for simple stuff like this.
Huh... Kinda creepy, they can technically watch anything you do on that laptop, if they wanted, activated or not without you knowing.
Not sure if I'd want that with as much commerce and banking I do online o.o;
That and the story just looks a bit off. War Craft and Porn as the first things? Sounds a little iffy
Not sure if I'd want that with as much commerce and banking I do online o.o;
That and the story just looks a bit off. War Craft and Porn as the first things? Sounds a little iffy
sounds iffy to me too. why would they wait 3 days? if they had the address and snapshot of the person. under the new patriot act, police really don't need a search warrent much anymore with reasonable cause and they had proof and pictures.!!!
but its interesting to say the least.
but its interesting to say the least.
I won't give that much power over mi laptop to anybody, better buy a safechain or something like that.
plus, no software survives a full formatting... thiefs aren't all that stupid
plus, no software survives a full formatting... thiefs aren't all that stupid
no, you should never give that much control other your laptop to anyone, duh! if there's a weakness in their software, imagine what a bad intentioned person could do