Laptop Security
Anti-theft tracking software and hardware
are your last line of defense against permanent loss of
your laptop and data. Unlike
other security and locking devices, these come into play
after your laptop is taken.
Some scary
stats for laptop owners: 620,000 laptops were stolen in
the U.S. in 2002, according to Safeware, Inc., an
insurance company. An estimated 95% of stolen laptops
are never recovered.
But the odds of recovering a laptop
improve dramatically with anti-theft tracking software.
Several companies cite recovery rates of 90% or more for
laptops using their product. Many have law enforcement
relationships and special incident report forms which
can expedite recovery.
Before looking at all the products,
and there are many, here is an example of how ant-theft
tracking software works:
1. Buy and install the software on
your laptop. Once the software
is installed, a small, hidden tracking program is
activated. This program runs in the background and
should not affect your computing.
2. The software communicates with a
monitoring point. Don't worry,
it doesn't track what you do on your computer. The
communication can occur in a variety of ways dependng on
the software being used. Usually it is dependent on the
laptop being connected to the internet. One possibility
is that the internet the program occasionally sends it's
location to a monitoring server or email address.
Another method is that it provides location information
only when you report it stolen and a recovery effort is
initiated.
At this point you can forget about the
software….unless your laptop is stolen! If your laptop
is stolen, now what?
3. Contact the monitoring and
recovery center. Most software
comes with a recovery service which is initiated when
you call and report your laptop stolen. Usually you can
contact the company by phone, email or on the web.
4. Recovery process initiated.
The recovery process starts with the monitoring company
attempting to contact your computer. If it is found
connected to the internet, the company will attempt to
work with law enforcement to recover the laptop.
5. You get your laptop
back…hopefully.
Here are some of the key questions you
should be asking when looking at anti-theft tracking
software:
Does the cost of the software
include full recovery costs?
What does the software NOT protect
against? For example, not all
tracking software survives the hard drive being
formatted. A related question may be to ask if a piece
of hardware can be installed, such as an add-on board,
that will function even if the hard drive is removed.
Can somebody use the Remove or
Uninstall feature in Windows to turn off the tracking or
use a Process Viewer to view and kill the program?
Most
Can the software be detected using
an Antivirus software? Most of
the popular tracking programs are ignored by most
popular antivirus programs. However, this isn't always
the case so much sure to check about your particular
antivirus software. Also, make sure that any special
rules you need to give to the antivirus product does not
make it easier for a thief to disable tracking.
Is communication between your
computer and the monitoring point encrypted?
Verify the communication between your computer and the
monitoring point is secure. If the connection is not
secure then you will be at increased risk for having
your computer hacked.
Recommended Products:
ComputracePlus
http://www.computrace.com/
Computrace is one of the most professional tracking
programs on the market. The program contacts a
monitoring point over the internet once per day and more
often if reported stolen. According to the company,
Computrace can "survive a re-format, F disk command and
hard drive re-partitioning". It will not be protected if
the hard drive is physically removed your computer.
Communication between your laptop and the Monitoring
Center is encrypted. The company has a load of
testimonials and success stories on it's website. It
claims to recover 95% of the stolen computers using
ComputracePlus who contact. IBM is a reseller. 1/3 of
the Fortune 50 companies are customers. Requirements:
zTrace -
http://www.ztrace.com/
zTrace is another high rated tracking program. ZTrace
contacts it's monitoring point, zServer, when a new
internet connection is made. It operates in stealth mode
with no trace of it's existenmce on the hard drive. It
can track dial-up calls and can utilize caller ID.
Overall, the technology and process is very similar to
that of CompuTracePlus.
LapTrak
http://www.secure-it.com/products.htm
BoomerangIt -
http://www.boomerangit.com/ It's hard to believe anybody
would use this. The idea is that you put a label on your
laptop or another item. If it's lost, the person who
found it would log into the BoomerangIt website and
report it as found. Yeah, right.
PC-Guardian -
http://www.pcguardian.com/
PC PhoneHome -
http://www.brigadoonsoftware.com/
Stealth Signal -
http://www.stealthsignal.com/
Stop Theft -
http://www.stoptheft.com/
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Copyright © 2003 John Proulx All Rights Reserved
Last modified:
01/16/08
