Trace stolen or lost laptops....

[prax]

Some of you who have laptops will surely be worried about the surge in
the theft of laptops. Even I was wondering on the technologies that
could track stolen laptops and computing devices. Some of the things I
could think of were – GPS dots (like in Hollywood movies), IMEI
numbers as found in Mobiles or stealth softwares that would send the
owner some email blah blah… .

All of a sudden, tracking and recovery of stolen laptops seem to have
caught the attention of companies. Quite a few companies like HP,
Computrace have lined up solutions in this space. Although, the
effectiveness and consistency of these are yet to be proven, some of
the technologies look very impressive but most of them seem have
dependency on connection to internet. I am yet to see something listed
above on the lines of Hollywood movies :) I have just put some that I
felt are interesting, Read more:

http://startupit.org/tracklaptop

Prasanna

[Chilly8]

X-No-Archive: Yes


>"prax" <pranxter@gmail.com> wrote in message
>news:5f5ca03e-b846->4bc3-9f2b-40d40eca792c@j22g2000hsf.googlegroups.com...
>Some of you who have laptops will surely be worried about the surge in
>the theft of laptops. Even I was wondering on the technologies that
>could track stolen laptops and computing devices. Some of the things I
>could think of were – GPS dots (like in Hollywood movies), IMEI


On problem with GPS is that it can be jammed. You can buy
GPS jammers as cheap as $200.

[Flash Gordon]

Chilly8 wrote, On 19/06/08 20:21:
> X-No-Archive: Yes
>
>
>> "prax" <pranxter@gmail.com> wrote in message
>> news:5f5ca03e-b846->4bc3-9f2b-40d40eca792c@j22g2000hsf.googlegroups.com...
>> Some of you who have laptops will surely be worried about the surge in
>> the theft of laptops. Even I was wondering on the technologies that
>> could track stolen laptops and computing devices. Some of the things I
>> could think of were – GPS dots (like in Hollywood movies), IMEI
>
> On problem with GPS is that it can be jammed. You can buy
> GPS jammers as cheap as $200.

Or probable make one for less than $20 if it is only jamming the public
signals.

Anyway, it isn't the GPS you have to worry about it is whatever method
that is used for transmitting the positional information. If you are
receiving the signal then it *can* be tracked down even if the signal
has absolutely no positional information.
--
Flash Gordon

[Chilly8]

X-No-Archive: Yes

"Flash Gordon" <spam@flash-gordon.me.uk> wrote in message
news:1u2ri5x772.ln2@news.flash-gordon.me.uk...
> Chilly8 wrote, On 19/06/08 20:21:
>> X-No-Archive: Yes
>>
>>
>>> "prax" <pranxter@gmail.com> wrote in message
>>> news:5f5ca03e-b846->4bc3-9f2b-40d40eca792c@j22g2000hsf.googlegroups.com...
>>> Some of you who have laptops will surely be worried about the surge in
>>> the theft of laptops. Even I was wondering on the technologies that
>>> could track stolen laptops and computing devices. Some of the things I
>>> could think of were – GPS dots (like in Hollywood movies), IMEI
>>
>> On problem with GPS is that it can be jammed. You can buy
>> GPS jammers as cheap as $200.
>
> Or probable make one for less than $20 if it is only jamming the public
> signals.
>
> Anyway, it isn't the GPS you have to worry about it is whatever method
> that is used for transmitting the positional information. If you are
> receiving the signal then it *can* be tracked down even if the signal has
> absolutely no positional information.


There are jammers that can take of that, but they are much more
expensive. There are dual GPS/GMRS jammers, which totally
cut off the tracking device from whomever is trying to track
you. These devices jam both GPS position information,
and jam the GMRS frequencies that the devices use to
report information back to the monitoring center.

This is why I am against probationers, or those awaiting trial,
wearing GPS ankle braclets. The dual GPS/GMRS jammers
can prevent the device from not only getting positional
information, but also cut it off from the monitoring station.

[Alpha Crucis Webmaster]

X-No-Archive: Yes


"Flash Gordon" <spam@flash-gordon.me.uk> wrote in message
news:1u2ri5x772.ln2@news.flash-gordon.me.uk...
> Chilly8 wrote, On 19/06/08 20:21:
>> X-No-Archive: Yes
>>
>>
>>> "prax" <pranxter@gmail.com> wrote in message
>>> news:5f5ca03e-b846->4bc3-9f2b-40d40eca792c@j22g2000hsf.googlegroups.com...
>>> Some of you who have laptops will surely be worried about the surge in
>>> the theft of laptops. Even I was wondering on the technologies that
>>> could track stolen laptops and computing devices. Some of the things I
>>> could think of were – GPS dots (like in Hollywood movies), IMEI
>>
>> On problem with GPS is that it can be jammed. You can buy
>> GPS jammers as cheap as $200.
>
> Or probable make one for less than $20 if it is only jamming the public
> signals.
>
> Anyway, it isn't the GPS you have to worry about it is whatever method
> that is used for transmitting the positional information. If you are
> receiving the signal then it *can* be tracked down even if the signal has
> absolutely no positional information.
> --
> Flash Gordon


As you probably know, we support the use of things like GPS
jammers, proxies, and the like.

And such things can come in handy. After the cyclone in Myanmar
I went there and did reports on my online radio station, but used
an encrypted VPN connection, so the authorities in Mymanmar
would NEVER know what I was up to. They would know I
was making a heavily encrypted outbound connection, but they
would never know that there was yet another reporter reporting
illegally (the Junta does not like reporters very much). Since
I was using an encrypted VPN connection to my servers,
the Junta would have NEVER been able to find out what
I was up to. Since there is one upscale tourist resort only
about 1 hour's drive from where much of the destruction
was, so it was not hard to bluff my way in, by getting a
7-day tourist permit. As long as I left before the permit
expired, which I did, there was no problem. With the
connection encrypted, there was no POSSIBLE way
for the ruling Military Junta to find out what I was up to.

[Jens Hoffmann]

Hi,

> With the
> connection encrypted, there was no POSSIBLE way
> for the ruling Military Junta to find out what I was up to.

Except for listening in on you recording your news in the hotelroom
with the bug behind the curtain...

Cheers,
Jens

[Hortence Goss]

Have any of you heard of Lowjack For Laptops? This tracking software is actually written into the BIOS of the computer:

http://absolute.com/

Cheers!

[ade1650]

X-No-Archive: Yes

"Flash Gordon" <spam@flash-gordon.me.uk> wrote in message
news:1u2ri5x772.ln2@news.flash-gordon.me.uk...
> Chilly8 wrote, On 19/06/08 20:21:
>> X-No-Archive: Yes
>>
>>
>>> "prax" <pranxter@gmail.com> wrote in message
>>> news:5f5ca03e-b846->4bc3-9f2b-40d40eca792c@j22g2000hsf.googlegroups.com...
>>> Some of you who have laptops will surely be worried about the surge in
>>> the theft of laptops. Even I was wondering on the technologies that
>>> could track stolen laptops and computing devices. Some of the things I
>>> could think of were – GPS dots (like in Hollywood movies), IMEI
>>
>> On problem with GPS is that it can be jammed. You can buy
>> GPS jammers as cheap as $200.
>
> Or probable make one for less than $20 if it is only jamming the public
> signals.
>
> Anyway, it isn't the GPS you have to worry about it is whatever method
> that is used for transmitting the positional information. If you are
> receiving the signal then it *can* be tracked down even if the signal has
> absolutely no positional information.


There are jammers that can take of that, but they are much more
expensive. There are dual GPS/GMRS jammers, which totally
cut off the tracking device from whomever is trying to track
you. These devices jam both GPS position information,
and jam the GMRS frequencies that the devices use to
report information back to the monitoring center.

This is why I am against probationers, or those awaiting trial,
wearing GPS ankle braclets. The dual GPS/GMRS jammers
can prevent the device from not only getting positional
information, but also cut it off from the monitoring station.

The concept is probably that if there is a GPS tracker on your car, it screws it up so doesnt report real locations. I guess it would also block GSM track on your cell phones.