News, info, and opinion by Mac users, for Mac users.

June 10, 2008

security

Don’t get Mac jacked

Posted Jun. 10, ’08, 4:07 PM PT by Dan Pourhadi
Category | Security

macbookAlarm.jpgLast week, I was on a MacJury panel discussing—okay, I was more just cracking lame jokes while everyone else was discussing—ways to protect your Mac from physical, pick-it-up-and-walk-away theft.

We mentioned three alarm/security apps for the Mac, designed to safeguard it from nonchalant ne’er-do-wells looking to swipe your unguarded MacBook while you’re away expelling urinary fluids.

iAlertU - iAlertU was one of the original proof-of-concept apps that took advantage of the new motion-sensing technology in MacBooks. Turn it on with your Apple Remote, and if it’s moved or the screen is shut while you’re away, it makes a loud car-alarm noise while flashing the screen, and snaps a photo of the perp with the Mac’s iSight. It was a good solution, but it seems development on iAlertU has stopped—so there’s no saying how it works on Apple’s current line of notebooks.

TheftSensor - Orbicule’s TheftSensor does a lot of the same stuff: activate and deactivate it with your Apple remote, and when your MacBook is moved (or the lid is closed) while it’s activated, it triggers a loud alert—which, like iAlertU, can’t be muted using your Mac’s volume controls. There’s a demo video, and it’s available free as a public beta.

Undercover - Orbicule also offers Undercover, a $50 software solution for MacBook recovery, too, in case your first line alarm system doesn’t stop the burglarizing bastard from grabbing your ‘Book and bolting. It provides several features designed to help you identify and recover the stolen goods: it transmits over the ‘net information about your Mac (IP addresses, etc.); it sends screenshots of your Mac’s activity at regular intervals; and it will snap and send an iSight photo every six seconds.

But what if even that doesn’t help you get back your Mac? Here is where Undercover gets really brilliant: It will simulate a total hardware failure until the screen is black, making the machine seemingly unusable. Network information is continuously monitored, to determine if the machine is sold, or changes hands. When they think the original thieves have dropped the defective goods, Undercover displays a full-screen message alerting the ‘Book’s new owners (be it an eBay buyer or Apple reseller) that it was stolen, is unusable, and should be returned as soon as possible—and promises a finder’s fee in return.

So if you’re one of them Starbucks Writers constantly getting up to refill your decaf mocha soy double-shot half-cap vanilla bean frappuccino, leaving your MacBook to fend for itself (shame on you), you may want to consider one of these options…just in case.

[Update: In the comments, reader lesang points to MacSlēgs, an open-source alternative to Undercover. And reader Anthony catches something I missed: TheftSensor is also no longer in development; they suggest iAlertU or JackSMS as alternatives. Thanks, guys!]


5 Comments

wesg Author Profile Page said:

iAlertU is the best thing ever for a quiet university library.

June 10, 2008 4:20 PM
lesang said:

this is free, open-source alternative to undercover. everyone can build their own, for friends, family.
http://mac.krokoarch.lv/en/projekti/macslegs
unfortunatelly the source code still hasn't been put for download.

June 10, 2008 5:47 PM
Anthony said:

TheftSensor is no longer in development.

http://www.orbicule.com/blog/2007/09/exit-theftsensor.html

June 10, 2008 6:47 PM
j said:

undercover looks best BUT i would never leave my mac untethered i.e. a security lock - €50 well spent..

Thus would-be thieves would have to have about their person a set of bolt cutters and/or lots of hacksaw blades PLUS lots of time before I return to,as punishment, force them to spend a day on a pc being totally windozed!! (minus their fingers of course :-)

June 11, 2008 5:10 AM
kroko said:

Hi!

I'd like to clear some things out:
Jon asked:
Hey, I was wondering, how I, an non-Lativan speaking Mac user could report my mac stolen once I downloaded the software. How do I navigate the server website to get where I need to

Right now MacSlēgs is for Latvian mac-user community -> the website is Latvian only. I doubt that the hosting service I’m using is willing to open it up for international use and for free (and no way I will agree to make this service shareware).
However I’m planning to open up a demo site in English, so You can register and try it out. Account and all the information would be deleted after i.e. 3 days.
I will post source. If You like the functionality in demo, You can download the source and set up for Yourself, Your friends, family, larger group (i.e. Your mac-equipped company). It’s easy. All You need is a “server”. In the beginning when macslēgs was for private use only- for my Mac portables- the server was iMac that I’m writing this post from (as You know OS X client has Apache, CGI/Perl out of box, You need to additionally compile MySQL, DBI, DBD:mysql for MacSlēgs functionality- it’s easy as make && make install . Surely, You should know what You’re doing, security ABC applies always). “Server” can be any *nix box & OS, it’s not OS X binary dependent. The client side software just needs an ajustment- to define what server to listen from. For totally private use the workflow would be- set up Your Mac (BSD, GNU/Linux, whatever) home workstation as "server", grab a dyndns account for it, install client on Your notebook(s), set the server path on client and You're set.
Yeah, it's not like Undercover, where You just buy a service and make one-click install. MacSlēgs takes a bit more... but You get absolute control over the information and it's free. In my opinion, anyone can set it up in less an hour.
I just don’t have time at the moment, it’s the end of semester and my due-dates have already become do-dates. Hopefully in the beginning of July. And before posting source, I’d like to make some changes to server side code, giving more functionality and ease of use, write the documentation and instructions.
Regards,
kroko

June 11, 2008 1:36 PM

Leave a comment

 



Visit other IDG sites: