Open-source laptop & iPhone recovery- forget LoJack, do it yourself
By Justin Montgomery
Losing your precious laptop, or having it stolen is probably always in the back of your mind, especially if you rely on it for work. While there’s a slew of products and software available that can track your laptop if anything happens, a homegrown method could prove more suitable if your worried about data privacy as well as a reliance on a third-party.
A team of computer scientists at the University of Washington have come up with a new solution they call Adeona, according to CNet. The idea is to give people a method for safeguarding their laptops that relies neither on proprietary commercial software nor the centralized servers of the companies that provide such software. Tadayoshi Kohno and Gabriel Maganis from the team gave a talk recently at the Gnomedex Conference- outlining the solution and how it differs from similar products.
The difference in Adeona lies in the fact that it’s the world’s first free- open-source laptop-tracking system, and one that can be installed by users themselves, which doesn’t require a “corporate intermediary” to operate effectively. With commercial laptop-tracking services such as LoJack, it’s never possible to know for sure that someone wouldn’t exploit the company’s possession of your personal information. Worse yet, that data could be subpoenaed in court by the companies that hold your information, then it’s truly beyond your control. Though unlikely- it’s possible. With a solution like Adeona, only you control access to your data.
All a user needs to do is install a piece of free, open-source software on their computer, and make sure to keep a copy of the credential key the software provides on a thumb drive or something similar in a safe place. This key is then used to track the laptop if it’s lost or stolen. The team is even working on a similar solution that works for the iPhone as well. An app available in the App store will allow your iPhone to be tracked via its data connection when and if it’s used.
To track your stolen property, you can do a number of things; you can track the IP addresses and/or the Wi-Fi network name and geo-coordinates to track the general area the device is in, or your laptop can even snap a photo using its webcam (if so equipped) to snap a photo every 30 seconds to show you exactly who’s using it. The overall idea is very similar to the competition, with the only real difference being that you’re the only one seeing any of your information.
The iPhone solution is still in development, but that’s what will be worth while in my book. If it all works as they say it will, it will prove to be a valuable asset for any iPhone owner.
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August 26th, 2008
What happens if the person changes the drive then hooks your drive up as a slave drive on another computer?
And reinstalls the OS on a new drive?
GPS is the only true way to recover a stolen laptop.
If it was that important I would use GPS over anything.