While a power-on password and
encrypted drive in your laptop could protect your data in the event of theft, it doesn't come close to the satisfaction you'd feel at being able to
locate and prosecute the bastage who stole it. While Lenovo has its
Lockdown PC Now feature that allows you to remotely disable your lost or stolen laptop via SMS, it lacks GPS to pinpoint your gear's location. Enter Ericsson, who just announced its intent to make its HSPA-capable Mobile Broadband Modules compatible with Intel's
Anti-Theft Technology. Ericsson's modules will support remote-SMS disable like Lenovo's slabs but adds GPS to transmit the laptop's location. At least they will once commercial products begin to ship sometime in the second half of 2009.
P.S. To all thieves and malcontents: just because we gave you a picture of the module above doesn't mean you're allowed to remove it and disable the service. Not cool.
posted December 11th 2008 3:19AM
I drunk-texted my laptop once. It didn't turn out well.
I'll only buy it if texting the laptop causes it to burst into flames.
I think it'd be pretty rare for a thief to actually know a laptop well enough to actually figure out how to get it out. I just have never heard of any geek-thieves...
Mark Zuckerberg?
Bill Gates?
Black-hat hackers?
Whaaa?
Any common thief would know about this in 2 second if these ever became popular. If they wipe out peoples houses they sure can handle this.
P.S. Not every thief will know this but most will, and those who don't or cant get the computer to work knows a guy who does...
@jay.viz: At worse Bill Gates would be Robin Hood.
They dont have to get it out fast, they just need a cell phone jammer and then they have all the time in the world
Now your boss can tell if you were spending your time on that "business trip" conducting actual business and not at a strip club.
Not that I would condone such behavior. >.>
You know you're a nerd when you bring your laptop to the strip club.
Those reports aren't gonna type themselves you know.
Tat Seems interesting, but if it is easy to simply remove the module & thus disable the entire lock down system, then its simply useless. But i guess they would have made some configuration such that the never wouldnt work at all if the module is removed!! anybody know bout it?
Problem: Removable tracking module.
Solution: Remote self-destruct chip fused to the motherboard.
Problem: Remote self-destruct chip fused to the motherboard.
Solution: Soldering iron/hot-air pencil
Problem: Removable tracking module.
Solution: Remote tracking module, with small controller chip inside with serial key or something similar. once removed . bios won't boot
Your solutions are all valid but, like the Mythbusters, I think blowing it up would be so much cooler.
Might have to worry about legal repercussions though. Vigilante justice is probably frowned upon.
Yea I doubt 80% of the thieves really give a crap about whats on the laptop their just looking to sell it for a quick buck. So you might get your laptop back just most likely not from the person that actually stole it. But I can see where this would be a nice feature for anybody, especially businesses.
totally agree. are the police likely to do anything even if you give them the coordinates? i've heard of people giving the police photos & video from a home alarm system and nothing happens. the best you can hope for: the person who 'unsuspectingly' bought a laptop from a drug addict for $20 behind a dumpster will drop it off somewhere and it'll get back to you.
Will I be able to install one in my ex, cuz she likes to visit me with her remote-kill-switch/gun.
She probably wants to kill you for being responsible for terrible jokes, in which case I wholeheartedly support her cause.
Yeah it really sucks...
I promise to not try harder next time.
yeah. as if I needed another way for hackers to to hold my data ransom.
i really like the idea of having an always-connected module that has GPS and internet connectivity hardwired to my laptops motherboard.
/sarcasm
Because most cellphones now dont?
just use sony batteries with your notebook and add a little sms pwr on command and you have your self destructing/melting robbed laptop.
Pretty useless I think. Put the thing into a cage of Farraday... bye bye radiation and also communication. If you can't reach it, you can't control the "kill switch" either which gives the douchebag of a thief enough time to damage the GPS-antenna chip permanently so it won't receive your "kil"-signal... ever.
OR, sell it really fast, and take your money and run. But, great tip for the anal-retentive thief.
Heres an even better idea, take out the damn laptop battery. No power, no tracking.
If you have the technical knowledge, financial means and the wharehouse space to create a faraday cage, you are at a criminal level beyond stealing low profit laptops.
i rather place a small amount of C-4 in the laptop, explode when a person is touching track pad after receive transmission.
I doubt thieves will even attempt to open and remove the tracker..not unless they want to destroy the system itself.
Why don't you just say bastard ? Is this the bible belt are what ?
Let's criticize writers for trying to be polite now! Ra!
Motherfu
I'm just talking about Shaft.
"Bastage" is a reference to the somewhat obscure comedy "Johnny Dangerously", starring Michael Keaton. It's pretty frickin' hilarious!
soooo, that way whey the government doesn't like you anymore, they can just "steal" you computer.. great. -.-
Oh great is this really to retrieve your laptop from thieves or JUST ANOTHER way to control us.
Personally I prefer to take my chances with it being stolen than risking having it being shut down by someone.
Grand! Remotely disable laptop. Thief decides he doesn't need expensive stolen paperweight and throws in trash.
Good solution.
This is pointless. No company will willingly ship this - theft though incredibly annoying is a stable revenue stream for the laptop manufactuing companies and microsoft etc. who all get the commission from the insurance money you use to buy a new laptop. Microsoft could have been doing this for years with stolen laptops registering for software updates but has activly choosen not to...
I see this in breaking news
Spammers broadcast remote kill commands through SMS on random numbers, cause havoc in Help Desks.
Breaking news:
Sony and Intel reading engaget comments, scraping kill switch with GPS locator.
I think the GPS is more compelling than the kill switch. If the kill switch is flipped, it will tip off the thief (or more likely the pawn shop owner/fence), and they will promptly remove the battery and locate the device.
If the kill switch is not flipped, then it'll be business as usual, hopefully with the laptop on long enough (and outside, unless they are using aGPS) to get a location alert out.
Instead of a kill switch, maybe something that'll make the laptop extremely sluggish (ie, 5 min boot up time) so that it'll be on longer and transmitting more GPS coordinates.
Already on the Nokia E71.
Encryption and remote erase/disable.
Already on every Blackberry made in the last three years...
in addition, why not enable the built in webcams in most notebooks (worth stealing) to MMS a snapshot on the first boot after the system is reported stolen (as a service in boot before windows login). you know the first person to turn it on is the dude that stole it, possibly with a pile of the rest of your stolen stuff in frame behind him (wishfull thinking)
http://www.kcra.com/news/18237769/detail.html?rss=sac&psp=news
like this?
endgadet this might deserve its own thread
I heard about someone who set up his MacBook to automatically start snapping photos once stolen. Caught the crook on photo id.
This is stupid. It's like having a self destruct sequence on the Enterprise. Instead of someone quantum torpedoing the ship why didn't they just hack into the computer and turn on the self destruct?
thats photon torpedo, noob