Filed under: Hardware, Software, Cool tools
Undercover: Mac anti-theft software
A
friend of mine sent me a link to a new piece of security/Mac-tracking software called Undercover. Essentially, this software runs in the background on your Mac and
periodically pings an Undercover Recovery Center. In the event of a stolen Mac, you can contact the center and they can
kick the software into gear, collecting IP information and, interestingly, screenshots of what's happening on your
stolen Mac. The idea is that if the thief is actually using his undeserved new prize, he could, sooner or later, give
away details of his identity, say with a chat name or checking email. If this "Plan A" fails, the Undercover
Center can then enact "Plan B," causing the Mac to act like it's experiencing hardware failure which, by
their logic, would prompt the thief to either sell it or send it in for service. While I'm not sure how they could
determine the Mac has again changed hands, let alone come into the care of someone who would help, Undercover could
then make the Mac display a message stating that it has been stolen, along with contact information and the offer of a
Finder's fee.While this sounds like an ideal chain of events following the theft of your Mac, Damien brought up a couple great points as to why this software might have a limited, if at all, rate of success. First, the typical computer thief might find a way to erase the stolen computer (which makes me wonder what kind of people Damien hangs out with). Second, if you're a portable notebook user concerned about security and theft, you probably don't walk away from the book while logged in, and (hopefully) you don't set your book to automatically log in anyway. As far as I understand how this software works, both of these practices would render Undercover useless, as I'm pretty sure you need to be logged in for the software to work its magic.
Ultimately, you should probably check out more of Undercover's abilities and inner workings before jumping on it. Orbicule, the makers of Undercover, offer a customer service/sales online chat option if you'd like to talk to them more about it. At the end of the day, it's at least nice to see some new thinking (even if it might not be fool-proof) in terms of portable computer security.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Daniel Cohen said 10:25AM on 2-07-2006
I recentlyhad my computers (desktop and laptop) stolen from my home. The thief was a 13-year-old boy who was vaught but the computers weren't recvovered.
A program such as this would probably have got it back.
Yes, someone sufficiently computer literate can break the Open Firmware Password protection. And an auto login account with no password is going to tempt someone to use the machine.
And yes again, if the computer is never connected to the internet then it can't be found, but the likelihood is that it will be connected.
Also, it's easy to delete the program if one knows it is there.
I don't think any such program can work against someone who knows enough, but it is useful protection against a casual thief/purchaser
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ScottBruin said 5:46AM on 3-04-2006
I'm actually seriously considering purchasing this. It's only right for certain people, though. If your laptop was stolen out of your car by someone that steals laptops for a living, then sure, this probably wouldn't work.
But I live in a fraternity house at my university and one of my brothers just had his Titanium Powerbook stolen. If he had this app, I'm also positive he would have gotten it back. The run of the mill college thief would simply turn on the laptop and try to log in with the dummy account. It only takes one IP address to probably get the guy.
Just my $0.02.
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itsmeee said 4:17PM on 1-19-2006
I read about that software the other day and so I'd like to answer some of your concerns.
1.) as they say you can make it so the person can't reinstall an os by simply enabling your computers firmware password. This makes it unusable for them.
2.) I leave my computer logged in most of the time, and occasionally leave it in my car if its a good neighborhood, so I could see that happening.
For $25 it would be worth it imo to get a chance at getting your apple back. I'd deffinatly get this if I lived in the city and had to worry about robbers. Right now I live in the country so robbers aren't an issue, and i try to keep it by my side the rest of the time.
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James said 4:35PM on 1-19-2006
Any thoughts on MacPhoneHome? I've read good reviews of it. http://www.pcphonehome.com/
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Stacey said 4:36PM on 1-19-2006
I think it would be cool if it detected the iSight and took some photos. That would go a long way to tracking the theif.
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Karl said 4:39PM on 1-19-2006
More than likely someone will format the drive and re-install the OS if they steal it.
Can someone tell me if apple has a Harddrive password protection feature?
Most PC laptops do.
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Kyle Brown said 5:08PM on 1-19-2006
Read about this on digg. I thought it was a really cool idea, but you do raise some good points, mainly about not being able to get past the log in screen. But, a cool feature, if the theif actually does log in, is the OS degrades and eventually halts making the computer unusable. It displays an error screen. Then when taken to an apple dealer to fix, they notify the authorities.
Plus, for $25 it's pretty good peace of mind.
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n0x said 5:11PM on 1-19-2006
Assuming that the computer is on the internet
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mp said 5:20PM on 1-19-2006
Anyways you can simply write a cron job or launchd.
Send it to a PHP website with MYSQL collecting data.
example ...
Collecting
system_profiler | grep -i
Sending
/usr/bin/curl $SCRIPT_ADDRESS?serial_number=$SN&model=$MD
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David Chartier said 5:20PM on 1-19-2006
Karl: check out comment #1, I think that solution could work for you.
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Doug said 5:21PM on 1-19-2006
I did this myself. I put a curl script in cron that requests a URL from my webserver, giving away its IP address. Dont steal my laptop or I will get you!
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Patrick Haney said 5:38PM on 1-19-2006
This is a piece of software I've envisioned for years, glad to see someone finally made it a reality.
For all of you doubters, here's some answers to the important questions (I just had a chat with Peter, the developer).
First off, by enabling a firmware password using Apple's simple piece of software (it's on the OS X disc), you can prevent anyone without the password from reinstalling the OS.
Secondly, Undercover runs as a root process, meaning it will always be active once the computer is on, regardless of whether or not anyone is logged in. Always on, always protected (of course, as someone mentioned, it would have to have an internet connection at some point).
Third, firewalls and proxys have been taken into account and Undercover is prepared for such obstacles in sending data back to the data center.
Fourth, once your computer is stolen and "Plan B" is in place, it will be up to you and Orbicule to decide when to go from simulating hardware failures to displaying alert messages about the stolen machine to possible third parties. While I doubt this is fool proof, the changing IP can tell you when the computer has likely changed hands.
And lastly, iSight camera support seems to be one of the biggest requests. Peter didn't tell me straight out that it will be included in the future, but I think his hints along with the Undercover icon can tell you the answer to that one. MacBook Pro users will like the built-in iSight even more now.
And for $29.99, I can't imagine having a Mac laptop and not owning this software.
PS. Peter was quite nice about answering my questions through iChat. Thanks for the great customer support, you've got a guaranteed customer once my MacBook arrives.
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Joel said 5:43PM on 1-19-2006
#1 already covered the concerns about reformatting the drive. Now about being logged-in all the time, why not set-up the security preferences to automatically log you off after, say, 30 minutes (or even less)?
Also, Orbicule also said to make a dummy account (with limited privileges) to allow the thief to login. This will then let Undercover take screenshots.
But then, the thief can just hack open the Mac and get the drives and memory, sell those individually, and sell the rest as scrap. :)
I've already upgrade from LapCop. $25 is just a small fee in exchange for the peace of mind I'd get.
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superjeff said 5:43PM on 1-19-2006
Wouldn't killing the OS prompt most fairly computer literate people to reformat the harddrive and therefore removing the software?
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spiralscratch said 8:18PM on 1-19-2006
The Open Firmware password is really easy to get around. Simply enabling it is no guarantee the HD will not be wiped and the OS reinstalled.
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heat said 9:32PM on 1-19-2006
with the isight feature ill definitely get this. universal binary = sexy & $25 for being a student. neat. you should review it, tuaw :)
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Michael G said 12:37AM on 1-20-2006
I will get this for my soon-to-arrive MacBook, it seems a lot better than lap cop. If the app can take and send photos through isight that would be great.
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Michael said 12:46AM on 1-20-2006
I just thought so something else: Combine this with GPS-if the thief plugs in a USB one or when GPS is built in-and you have a foolproof system for recovery, that is if it is connected to the internet.
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Mac Diva said 4:55AM on 1-23-2006
How naive can people, be?
This product has so many 'ifs' about it that it would be useless in most cases. Very few people enable firmware passwords. Doing so locks out the user if he forgets. Most people who steal computers don't use them, but sell or pawn them. So, even if the complicated scheme of this software worked, the person found would not be the thief. As others have said, the rare actual user would reformat the hard drive. To be on the safe side, he might even replace the old hard drive with a new hard drive. Small expense if you've gotten a 'free' item worth thousands. But, in most cases, the thief is going to turn part of the value of that computer into meth or heroin. He will sell or pawn it cheaply and use the money to buy drugs.
The key to not having your laptop stolen is vigilance. Don't leave it unguarded in public places or in your car. Leave your laptop at home if you are going somewhere with lots of distracting activity, such as a concert or festival. Use a case that does not scream 'laptop computer.' Preferably, it should attach to your body in some way, i.e. shoulder strap or backpack.
In all my years of owning laptops, starting with a PowerBook 165c, I have never had one stolen.
People who sell 'vapor' products such as this software are lining their pockets at the expense of the naive.
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