Unfortunately, his computer was stolen from his car this past August but, as of yet, there haven’t been any signs of identity theft.

The affected physicians have been informed and, thankfully, no patient information was included in the database.

A representative for the health insurance company was quoted in the Chicago Tribune as saying: “At this point, we have no evidence that the data was misused.  We think this was a random criminal act. Regardless, we take these kinds of breaches extremely seriously and so we are alerting all doctors in the database.”

In an attempt to offset any negative consequences associated with the theft of the laptop, the Blue Cross association is offering crediting monitoring services to the individuals whose Social Security information was exposed.

It goes without saying that this is really a worst-case scenario, since so many could be affected by this breach and the laptop hasn’t been recovered.  This is an unfortunate example of how the mistakes of a single person could after thousands of people. 

In a situation like this, using a program like Computrace would be helpful since sensitive data can be deleted remotely and the Theft Recovery Team will work with local police to try to find the stolen laptop – and the thief who stole it. And once the they have the laptop back, Computrace can be used to help determine if files were accessed post-theft. While it would still be important to be vigilant for signs of identity theft, the risk would be considerably lower.

The savings are amazing – at $49.99 the price of this bundle has been slashed by 90% (off the total price of the programs if purchased individually). 

The Mac Security Bundle contains the following programs:

• Intego VirusBarrier X5
• Micromat TechTool Pro 5
• Absolute Software Computrace LoJack for Laptops 
• Macware WebGhost
• Intego ContentBarrier X5
• Intego NetBarrier X5 
• Smith Micro Spring Cleaning 
• JoeSoft Klix
• Intego Personal Antispam X5 
• Intego FileGuard X5
• Intego Personal Backup X5
• MOApp MyWallet

All of the programs included in the bundle are compatible with Mac OS X 10.6, Snow Leopard, as well as Mac OS X 10.4, Tiger, and Mac OS X 10.5, Leopard.

To learn more about how you can get the bundle which includes Absolute’s Computrace LoJack for Laptops, visit the MacPromo site.

image: Apple.com

An Absolute Theft Recovery Team has been established in Asia better facilitate our computer recovery services.

This expansion means that Computrace is now available throughout North America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, South America, Australia/New Zealand and, now,  Japan.

For more information about Computrace One as well as Computrace Mobile, Computrace for Netbooks, Computrace Data Protection, and Absolute Track in Japan, please visit www.absolute.com/japan.

The webinar was co-hosted by Geoff Glave, Product Manager at Absolute Software and by Lynne Weiss, VP of Sales & Marketing at International Association of Information Technology Asset Managers (IAITAM).

Topics covered in this webinar include information on how to:

• Reduce the time and cost of gathering physical asset inventory
• Gain control of the inventory and better control over lease maintenance costs
• Increase accountability to ensure compliance
• Enhance performance of assets and the life cycle management
• Risk reduction through standardization, proper documentation, loss detection
• Accurately track and manage computers on or off the network
• Leverage the benefits of SaaS

Watch for the webinar

The story was this: David Krop left 2 laptops in his SUV in a parking garage while he attended a meeting. The computers were stolen and they weren’t even password protected. However, David had a trial access of LogMeIn installed, which allowed him to remotely access his laptop. He was able to use this service to see that his stolen laptop was being used by its alleged thief. By spying on this person, and collecting all his personal information as he browsed the internet (including his face via a video chat), Krop was able to supply information to the police. The police were then able to recover the laptop.

Now, this sounds like a good deal, right? However, it’s a pretty a-typical situation to be in, and does not guarantee laptop recovery. The scenario depended on many factors, including:

• That the unauthorized user did not dismiss the tracking icon that appeared when his laptop activity was being watched
• That the unauthorized user would reveal a wide variety of detailed personal information while using the laptop (phone number, email address, face)
• That the unauthorized user wouldn’t wipe all the existing software off the computer

As you can see, using LogMeIn or other free laptop tracking or remote access services is not the same thing as using a dedicated laptop tracking & recovery program and service such as Computrace or LoJack for Laptops from Absolute Software. Only Absolute has a dedicated Theft Recovery Team to work with police to recover your computer. Our software does not require your to sit around waiting for the alleged thief to supply detailed information about him/herself – all investigations and tracking are done on your behalf.  And you don’t have to hope to talk a police officer into taking on your case – we have existing relationships with local police around the world. Also, most PCs also now have our software at the BIOS level, protecting it from being wiped if software is deleted. So even if a crafty thief that tries to remove the software, the BIOS firmware will make sure its installed.

David Krop has learned his lesson about leaving his laptop in his car. And he now uses remote tracking software. If you aren’t yet set up to track your laptop, check out our theft recovery products here.

What is geofencing? A geofence is a virtual perimeter on a geographic area using a location-based service, so that when the geofencing device enters or exits the area a notification is generated. The notification can contain information about the location of the device… – Wikipedia

The Absolute geofencing feature allows IT asset managers to incorporate the physical location of a device into their IT Asset Management strategy. If any device goes outside a pre-set perimeter and stays outside that perimeter for a set period of time, customers would be notified, allowing for a fast response to any suspicious activities, including remotely deleting data and/or reporting the device as stolen.

“By adding geofencing, our customers know sooner when mobile devices may be out of their control, so they can quickly protect the security of those devices.” – John Livingston, CEO of Absolute

Learn more about this new capability here or watch a demo here.

• InfoSec Nashville – September 17 in Nashville, TN
• IDF San Francisco – September 22 – 24 in San Francisco, CA (Booth 201, 141)
• IAITAM 2009 - September 30 – October 1 in Las Vegas, NV (Booth 41)
• GTEC – October 6 – 7 in Ottawa, ON (Booth 901)
• McAfee FOCUS 09 – October 6 – 9 in Las Vegas, NV (Booth 113)
• Gartner Symposium ITxpo – October 18 – 22 in Orlando, FL (Qualcomm Booth)
• Educause – November 3 – 5 in Denver, CO (Booth 952)

If you would like to set up an appointment with an Absolute representative at any of these events, you can reach us at 1-800-220-0733.

If you can’t make it out to one of these events, you can reach us in a myriad of ways. You’ll find our contact information here.

With the case of more advanced technology, like we employ at Absolute, the recovery is aided by services such as GPS, keystroke captures, or by internet connections to gather evidence and help determine where the lost device is being used. At Absolute, our recovery team also continues the process until the point when the device is recovered. This is by far the safest route, as you, the customer, never come in contact with the criminals. This also enables law enforcement agencies to prosecute those responsible for thefts.

John Livingston, CEO of Absolute, explains why:

"We will purposefully never reveal a location to a consumer customer. We won’t do it. Once you declare that it’s lost or stolen, we take control over the location at that point. We purposely keep some safe distance between the end user and the thief."

Absolute employs a team of 40 investigators with experience in law enforcement. This team then works closely with local law enforcement agencies to recover stolen devices. If you have sensitive data on your device, you have the option to trigger a remote delete of that data. We’re also working on a way to permanently disable the computers, which will hopefully be another deterrent to theft.

You can learn more about the Absolute recovery process here.

LoJack for Laptops provides our award-winning theft recovery services. It tracks, locates, and recovers stolen computers while providing you with the ability to protect your personal information from identity theft. Learn more here!

Here’s another shot of the lobby of the new Austin, Texas U.S. Headquarters!