Laptop security – it’s on you

[updated 2008.10.13]

While this blog normally prefers to stick to free and low-cost services, there are things worth paying for.

Your laptop wasn’t free, for example, and hanging on to it — or getting it back — is likely to be worth something to you.  Here are some free and pay services.

Adeona is a free Open Source system for tracking the location of your lost or stolen laptop that does not rely on a proprietary, central service. This means that you can install Adeona on your laptop and go — there’s no need to rely on a single third party. What’s more, Adeona addresses a critical privacy goal different from existing commercial offerings. It is privacy-preserving. This means that no one besides the owner (or an agent of the owner’s choosing) can use Adeona to track a laptop. Unlike other systems, users of Adeona can rest assured that no one can abuse the system in order to track where they use their laptop.

Adeona is designed to use the Open Source OpenDHT distributed storage service to store location updates sent by a small software client installed on an owner’s laptop. The client continually monitors the current location of the laptop, gathering information (such as IP addresses and local network topology) that can be used to identify its current location. The client then uses strong cryptographic mechanisms to not only encrypt the location data, but also ensure that the ciphertexts stored within OpenDHT are anonymous and unlinkable. At the same time, it is easy for an owner to retrieve location information.

While the following is not an endorsement, these links are for services which add a measure of security to your laptop.  HOWEVER – they have limitations, and the best defense is to keep it with you at all times, even in the Library and elsewhere on campus.

Laptop Alarm: “Did you ever hesitate to leave your laptop for a few minutes in a public space like a library? Afraid that someone will take your laptop? Now there is a simple and free solution to this problem! Laptop Alarm will emit a loud alarm whenever someone tries to steal your laptop!”

This is freeware.  However, it depends on certain things happening:

1. A/C Power Removal
2. Mouse Removal
3. Mouse Movement
4. Shutdown / Suspend

So, if some jerk simply takes the laptop without bothering to shut it down, no alarm.  And it also depends on others taking the trouble to either stop or remember and identify the thief.  Still, this is better than nothing.

A free service (which may or may not start charging a fee in the future) is LaptopLock.

LaptopLock protects the data and aids in the recovery process of a computer if it’s stolen. The LaptopLock can:

• Delete files (secure data wiping now available)
• Encrypt files
• Show a message to the user
• Execute a program
• Play a sound
• Visible or hidden from user

“If the computer is stolen, login into your account, mark the computer status as stolen. As soon as that machine connects to the Internet, the actions you set during setup will execute. The LaptopLock will also try to find out as much as possible about the connection to help in recovery of the machine. THE LAPTOPLOCK DOES NOT MONITOR OR RECORD USER ACTIONS. THE LAPTOPLOCK DOES NOT ALLOW ANYONE ACCESS TO YOUR COMPUTER OR DATA. THE LAPTOPLOCK CAN ONLY EXECUTE ACTIONS THE USER HAS PRE-PROGRAMMED IT WITH.”

This is a good bit stronger, provided that you have some kind of notice on your laptop that you have this installed and what it does.  On the other hand, somebody might take it simply to sell it rather than use it, and that means they don’t care if it “phones home” for the previous owner.

Remember that some people just like to cause trouble, and stealing a laptop is one way to do that — whether or not it sounds an alarm, or is harder for somebody else to use.

Protect your property!