Apple Begins Selling Kensington's Mac Studio Locking Kit

[maccymac42]

It's entirely likely that for insurance purposes companies are obliged to lock hardware down.

I've been issued dozens of Kensington locks over the last 30 years and have never seen one prevent a theft, but I expect Kensington continues to lobby the insurance industry to convince them these locks prevent loss and should be required by the terms of insurance policies.

These days with empty office spaces, there are endless opportunities to walk into a building and walk out with displays, computers etc. I was in one of our buildings the other day and was the only person on a floor with hundreds of 27" displays on VESA mounts sitting at empty desks. Every one of them had a lock which would be easy to defeat, but likely required for an insurance claim.

And when a computer that fits in a small bag can run $8000 USD (maxed out Studio) I can see the value in locking them up as futile as the lock may be.

So this is Kensington basically saying to insurers 'without these, you shouldn't let people claim because they haven't secured their stuff!' Why would anyone ever support a company who does this? They're creating a false sense of security and profiting from you over it. Just use security cameras and door locks, they're actually useful.

Apple didn't even secure things in their retail stores properly. 5 years after leaving their employ, they still haven't asked for the security key back or changed the alarms. Apple don't care for these, and you shouldn't either. Hell, they didn't even iCloud lock devices in the store I worked at! Lazy bums.

 

[Crowbot]

OK...so why does this help your insurance? Seems like 'they broke into my house and took my Mac Studio' would be enough to claim with out forking out for this placebo....I mean, casual theft deterrent.

If Kensington is buddy buddy with the insurance companies having the lock may just grease the skids on a claim payout.

 

[cicalinarrot]

These locking cables are really only a deterrent for people walking by. You can cut through them in seconds.

Ok, I'll put my Mac Studio in a safe when I use it.

 

[3304614]

OK...so why does this help your insurance? Seems like 'they broke into my house and took my Mac Studio' would be enough to claim with out forking out for this placebo....I mean, casual theft deterrent.

An insurance policy specifically for a computer might require you to use a lock with your computer. If you don’t use a lock and your computer gets stolen, the insurance company might not pay out. Those details would be spelled out in the policy if it is required.

If a lock is required for your insurance, this Kensington lock would almost certainly be acceptable for that purpose (though again, check the policy for the exact details). It won’t do a lot to stop someone with an easily-concealable wire cutter, but it’ll maybe help you get the insurance payout at least.

I am guessing your homeowners/renters insurance policy wouldn’t require your computer to be locked. But computer-specific insurance might require it. Computer insurance also typically covers other things (such as simple accidents, spills, drops, etc.) that homeowners insurance usually wouldn’t cover.

 

[chucker23n1]

OK...so why does this help your insurance? Seems like 'they broke into my house and took my Mac Studio' would be enough to claim with out forking out for this placebo....I mean, casual theft deterrent.

It helps with insurance for the same reason that not leaving the house with windows wide open helps with insurance.

 

[4nNtt]

Positioning the Kensington lock port on the bottom so it needs an adaptor feels like a throwback to the Ive era. They should have just put it below the HDMI port.

 

[4nNtt]

OK...so why does this help your insurance? Seems like 'they broke into my house and took my Mac Studio' would be enough to claim with out forking out for this placebo....I mean, casual theft deterrent.

These are more common in an office where there might be cleaning crew at night to prevent casual theft. You can get Kensington cables with cut alarms if extra paranoid. Chances are it would be bricked from activation lock if it were stolen, so there are multiple layers of deterrent.

 

[Enlightened Doggo]

You'll have a long time getting through the plastic and the twisted-threaded wire within the Kensington cables. You need something with more leverage-force ... proper bolt cutters not something held in 1 hand. A portable buzz-saw ... 3 seconds.

A small tool would work on a cable of this small of a diameter. Even by cable lock standards this is tiny. But we're really splitting hairs here. By the looks of it, you could probably easily break it with a hammer as well.

 

[compwiz1202]

So this is Kensington basically saying to insurers 'without these, you shouldn't let people claim because they haven't secured their stuff!' Why would anyone ever support a company who does this? They're creating a false sense of security and profiting from you over it. Just use security cameras and door locks, they're actually useful.

Apple didn't even secure things in their retail stores properly. 5 years after leaving their employ, they still haven't asked for the security key back or changed the alarms. Apple don't care for these, and you shouldn't either. Hell, they didn't even iCloud lock devices in the store I worked at! Lazy bums.

Heck so for homeowners/renters, everything needs to be chained does to qualify for reimbursement? I could just see a meme for it.

 

[Enlightened Doggo]

Heck so for homeowners/renters, everything needs to be chained does to qualify for reimbursement? I could just see a meme for it.

Just talk to your agent. I would be surprised if you needed a lock for a computer that's inside your home. The thing people are most likely to mess up is forgetting to list their valuables in the policy in the first place.

 

[3304614]

Heck so for homeowners/renters, everything needs to be chained does to qualify for reimbursement? I could just see a meme for it.

Your homeowners/renters insurance would almost certainly cover theft without requiring the need of a lock (though check your policy details to confirm).

But are other types of insurance besides homeowners/renters insurance. Insurance for businesses, insurance for schools, insurance for libraries, etc. These different insurance policies have terms that are different from homeowners insurance. And some of terms might necessitate the use of a lock.

Think about car insurance as an example. Your car insurance would cover theft of your car. But if your car has a theft protection system, the insurance company would likely offer you discount (specifically because you have a theft protection system). A car theft protection system makes it less likely for your car to get stolen, so the insurance company can offer you cheaper rates as a result.

That’s true of other types of insurance. A company will insure your business against theft. That’s no problem. But the more likely theft is to occur, generally the more expensive the insurance will be. Having some physical deference could help to lower what you will pay in insurance rates.

 

[sunman42]

One of my favorite YouTube channels is the “LockPickingLawyer” (which is exactly what the name suggests — a lawyer who picks locks).

In additional to picking locks, he also sometimes demonstrates how easy and quick it is to cut through far thicker wires/cables with easily-concealable tools (tools that can fit in you pocket).

I remember a few years back I was looking for a bicycle cable (for a bicycle, obviously, lol). I was set to buy what I thought was a good cable… until I saw a video of him destroying it in just a handful of seconds. It was shocking how quickly he cut through it. He very quickly wised me up on what is junk and what will actually provide a challenge for thieves.

I couldn’t find any videos of him cutting through something as thin as this cable though. Probably because it would be so easy as to not make for an interesting video. But here is a video of him cutting through a coil four-cables thick at the same time (because cutting through just a single bicycle cable would have been boring, lol):

Thanks!

Now I know that if someone breaks into my house and is carrying one of these dandy tools, my desktop is at risk. Fortunately, in the distant past, when my house was broken into, it was by amateurs who wouldn't know a cable cutter from a hole in the wall — but the Interwebs have changed all that.

When I was in college, about a million years ago, kids from the local town would roam the streets carrying those 28-inch (or longer) cable cutters, looking for easy prey (bicycles with inadequate locking ables). Which is why I lugged around a 28-lb., 3/8-inch thick steel cable and padlock for my 25-pound bicycle. But professional bike thieves carried more compact, hydraulic bolt cutters.

 

[sunman42]

That's kind of the point. They made the questionable design choice of making the mouse so thin, you can't charge it from its edge.

With the 2021 iMac, they ran into similar limitations — it's so thin it can't fit Ethernet or headphone jacks at the back. But they found reasonable workarounds: put Ethernet on the power adapter (which is arguably even better), and put the headphone jack on the side. The mouse, OTOH, can't even be used while it's charging. You'll rarely need to charge it, but that's a bit silly nonetheless.

As you say, perhaps they should've added inductive charging of some sort.

(Personally, I don't particularly care. macOS is better with trackpads anyway. But I think it's fair to question whether they picked the right design tradeoff there. Why not make it a millimeter or two thicker so it can fit a thin charging plug like Lightning?)

Questionable? When it led to some number of customers buying two mice instead of one? Now, that's Magic.

 

[sunman42]

Just talk to your agent. I would be surprised if you needed a lock for a computer that's inside your home. The thing people are most likely to mess up is forgetting to list their valuables in the policy in the first place.

Some homeowners policies can contain riders for generic "electronics" or "data processing" hardware and infrastructure. They don't require specific itemization before loss. (Sadly, I know from experience.)

 

[torontotim]

Was in the office the other day and LOL'd when I saw this. Pretty sure the lock is worth 10x what the old 4:3 Dell LCD is.