Undercover: Mac anti-theft software

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

with the isight feature ill definitely get this. universal binary = sexy & $25 for being a student. neat. you should review it, tuaw :)

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.

Wouldn't killing the OS prompt most fairly computer literate people to reformat the harddrive and therefore removing the software?

#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.

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.