Laptop stolen - can anything be done?

Pansy Potter

A friend of mine was burgled the other day and had her laptop and skype phone stolen.

Her brother phoned her since to say that he had had a missed skype call from her since the break-in. Checking his Skype contacts also tells him that her last login to Skype was after the burglary.

Obviously whoever stole the stuff has tried to make skype calls, and must be somewhat computer literate.

Is there anything she can do stop whoever has the laptop from doing anything on it which either might cost her money or embarrasssment.

Presumably there is no way of rendering the laptop unusable like the IMEI number in a phone?

EL_Loco

well in theory, you might be able to get the IP address from skype (if they log them) based on the user name.

from the IP the service provider can tell you where they connected from.

of course they could have used a free wifi spot, like a hotel, but if they weren't clever enough and used it at home then you'd have them.

but, that'd require skype and the ISP providing you those details, and over a laptop, I don't see it happening, but you never know.

Auvers

you cant render the laptop unusable but she should change her Skype login\password and make sure she changes all her e-mail accounts passwords.

Stephen

An ISP won't give up that information without a court order either.

thebman

Just change all the passwords immediately for everything that was saved in password managers. This would include online banking if it saved these details (request a new code from the bank or something like that, you'd need to contact them).

You won't be able to make the computer unusable. Even if you could, they could just take the hard drive out and put it in another computer.

EL_Loco

hmm, seeing as it was a break in, if you could convince the gardai that more than likely this person has and will do it again, it might be worth their while to do the leg work for a court order to track them down.

best of luck.

Capt'n Midnight

BIOS passwords and Hard Drive passwords exist to make the computer as useful as a brick to anyone who doesn't know them.

You can get "phone home" software. Considering the number of laptops stolen is a large percentage then I reckon that if this software was any use you would have hundreds of people jailed by it by now.

TestTransmission

First thing to do is register ur notebook with the manufacturer,all u wud need is the serial number.If you have this done already contact their customer support no.U cud then have it flagged as stolen,u wud need a police report to do this.If then in the off chance that something does go wrong with the notebook and they do call customer support,it will be recognised as reported stolen and the garda station that filed the police report wud be contacted.
It is a long shot but ud never know

IncredibleHulk

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

BIOS passwords and Hard Drive passwords exist to make the computer as useful as a brick to anyone who doesn't know them.

Can't BIOS password be bypassed?

majiktripp

IncredibleHulk wrote: »

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

BIOS passwords and Hard Drive passwords exist to make the computer as useful as a brick to anyone who doesn't know them. QUOTE]Can't BIOS password be bypassed?

Yes, Bios passwords can be bypassed (Sometimes,not always). BUT not without a lot of time and working knowledge of PC's and a bit of research.
More time and effort than a regular smash and grab criminal is going to want to spend.

cormie

So what's the best way to protect them from actually getting into your contents? A bios PW wouldn't stop them taking the HD out and putting it in another comp would it? Or is that what the HD password is for? Would all the info still be accessable through another comp either way?

Ghost Train

cormie wrote: »

So what's the best way to protect them from actually getting into your contents? A bios PW wouldn't stop them taking the HD out and putting it in another comp would it? Or is that what the HD password is for? Would all the info still be accessable through another comp either way?

yeah a hd password will stop the drive being any use in another machine.

hd password is probably the best way to protect your data, but if the laptop breaks and you want to recover your data from the drive, it's not as easy as connecting the drive to another machine.

windows passwords and encryption offer some protection

third party programs like truecrypt are good for encypting volumes of files

Capt'n Midnight

truecrypt is free
truecrypt is open source so far less likely to have a back door than commercial systems

you can extract data off a passworded drive by spending hundreds getting some guys in space suits to do and the drive is totally trashed in the process

iirc you can get a passworded drive to wipe itself but haven't found an easy way of doing it yet.


windows ntfs encryption of certain folders is ok
but non-encrypted folders Windows passwords offer NO PROTECTION WHATSOEVER , most linux live CD's will read the data , putting the drive in another PC means you just have to change permissions to read all the files, if the drive isn't SATA then a Dos 5 boot disk with an ancient version of ntfs4dos will read your files too.

The Muppet

Windows passwords can be easily reset and so can most Bios Passwords. Hard drive passwords offer some protection but some of these can also be bypassed or reset with differing levels of ease.



To Op I would report the use of Skype to the Gardai and explain that it may be possible to track the user via ISP. If it was just a burglary (no violence) they may not be all that interested in pursuing it but you never know.

Capt'n Midnight

The Muppet wrote: »

Windows passwords can be easily reset and so can most Bios Passwords. Hard drive passwords offer some protection but some of these can also be bypassed or reset with differing levels of ease.

BIOS passwords on desktops are easy to reset
Business laptops have had difficult to unlock BIOS passwords for a very long time.

The Muppet

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

BIOS passwords on desktops are easy to reset
Business laptops have had difficult to unlock BIOS passwords for a very long time.

Depends on the laptop , some laptop passwords can be reset as easily as desktops , others are more secure but can still be bypassed.

cormie

So what's the BEST way to prevent protect yourself from this kinda thing so?

Axwell

I dont think there is a BEST way but more a combination of the above that will limit the use of your laptop to anyone that steals it. The more hassle it is the less likely they will even bother with it, not much of a consulation after its stolen but less hassle for you with any info which may be on your hard drive. In fairness the common burgular plans to sell it on for cash, if it aint working or cant be accessed it aint any use.

customer

I remember reading a thread either here or on askaboutmoney.com, in which a girl had had her laptop stolen and, with the help of her ISP, she was able to pin down the house where her laptop was and got it back!

AlmightyCushion

It was here I remember reading it. It was a cool thread and really shows you what a great place boards is. Now that I think about it, that would have been a great story for the radio piece about boards.

humaxf1

there's a program which you can install on your laptop which in turn sends an email to you with the public IP that it's connected to. I know it's a bit late for the OP, but i thought I'd mention it for everyone.

The IP address could be tracked down to get you in the ballpark area of where the laptop is likely to be located.

http://pcwin.com/Internet/IP_Watcher/index.htm

Capt'n Midnight

That app would be annoying if you were on dial up as it would email everytime, and which app does it use to email ?

must be a freeware version out there, all you need is an external smtp server,and to set it up to run as a service

get it to use ARP and you could show which other PC's were on the same network

OR

mod it so it's unsellable

OR

infect your laptop with a nasty virus / keylogger so if does get stolen then you emailed a credit card number to buy a replacement