A woman in Jacksonville, Florida was the victim of a home invasion which, in itself, is a scary thing to go through.  The thieves made off with jewellery and electronics, including the woman’s laptop, but they didn’t know that she had installed Computrace LoJack for Laptops on her computer.  “Within 24 hours of it being reported stolen, they already had one hit on it,” said Shannon Mercer.

While her laptop was sold several times before being returned to her, she felt that she got her revenge in the end.  “When someone breaks into your house, you feel violated. To get a piece of it back is pretty neat,” said Mercer.

You can get more information on LoJack for Laptops here.  In the meantime, watch the video of Mercer’s fascinating story!

Most Recoveries by One Investigator

Location: CA, USA
Scenario: Computrace lead this investigator to a desktop computer after it was stolen from an elementary school. One knock-and-talk later, and the investigator was able to successfully retrieve the stolen desktop – marking his 274th computer recovery facilitated by Computrace technology.
Most Collateral Recovered

Biggest Bust

Location: ON, Canada
Scenario: Absolute’s investigation of a laptop stolen in a recent break-and-enter lead to a long chain of criminal activity. In the process of using Computrace intel to track down the machine’s unauthorized user, police uncovered multiple other stolen items, including credit cards, wallets, weapons and bikes. In addition, a sizable quantity of narcotics was discovered, along with evidence of a fraud operation. Several arrests were made and over 10 charges laid. Not bad for a day’s work… 

Most Unlikely Thief

Location: MA, USA
Scenario: A terminated employee was the suspect in question after a company was left minus one laptop. A surprising thief of sorts, this suspect also happened to be a part-time police officer. Perhaps this is why he knew not to lie to the investigator who confronted him – he admitted that he had stolen the laptop out of spite for his former employer, and sheepishly handed over the machine.

Please note that indictments and criminal complaints are merely unproven accusations and the accused in all cases are presumed innocent until proven guilty.

Learn more about the Absolute Theft Recovery Process.

The University of California at Berkeley is taking the protection of their students’ personal data very seriously and have implemented data-masking techniques in an effort to thwart identity theft and security breaches. 

The school understands the importance of this after hackers broke into the health-services database earlier this year and gained access to the personal records of about 160,000 individuals.

The data-masking technology is incredibly interesting since it hides data in plain sight so that a students first and last name could be right there on the computer screen but, because the lettering has been moved around, it camouflages the true information.  The same technique is being used to conceal student identification numbers and other sensitive data.

Since a master copy of the real information is kept in a separate database it is still important for educational institutions to make sure that their network is properly protected with up-to-date security software.

Students can take the extra step of making sure that their personal computers are protected with products like Computrace LoJack for Laptops.

image: sxc.hu/svilen001

If you want to protect your Mac and save money, now is the time to check out the Mac Security Bundle.  Macintosh security specialist, Intego, has paired up with top-of-the-line security software partners to create this incredible deal which is available until October 31, 2009. 

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

According to a 3-month study of 600 botnets which have infiltrated enterprise networks, bot infections are on the rise in the corporate environment. The research, done by Damballa, indicates that it is small botnets, not large ones, that are the most prevalent in the enterprise environment:

As you can see from the graph above, 57% of the botnets infecting enterprises are considered “small”, which is defined as a botnet with 1-100 active members. However, despite being less well-known, these botnets are potentially more dangerous:

While many people focus on the biggest botnets circulating around the Internet, it appears that the smaller botnets are not only more prevalent within real-life enterprise environments, but that they’re also doing different things. And, in most cases, those “different things” are more dangerous since they’re more specific to the enterprise environment they’re operating within.

The study indicates that many of these small botnets have been created with low-cost or free DIY kits that can be downloaded from the Internet. In most cases, these small botnets are described as “highly-targeted at particular enterprises”, sometimes requiring a degree of familiarity of the breached enterprise. This could indicate an insider threat issue that we previously haven’t seen or talked about. The target data in these small botnets is often professionally managed with financial controller authentication details (for money transfers), customer database and source code being the top targets.

The problem with these small botnets, aside from their very targeted attacks, is that they often evade detection. Though they are small, these botnets are very dangerous! Damballa puts out a product to detect botnets, but I know very little about it. You can do some independent research on your own to determine how your enterprise will try to detect such intrusions.

Via dark reading

Lenovo and Absolute have introduced a new service called Lost & Found which makes it very easy to return a ThinkPad laptop to its owner.  A lost laptop can be catastrophic in so many ways – a business could lose money, data breaches may occur and that’s not even including the lost time and productivity. 

The Lost & Found service is available exclusively on Thinkpad laptops that have been enabled with Absolute’s Computrace for Lenovo at no extra cost. 

This is a great deal since it is free with Computrace for Lenovo and it can help give ThinkPad laptop owners some peace of mind.  Our lives are so busy and, while it might seem that a laptop is a large item to misplace, it’s pretty common for a laptop bag or case to get forgotten on the bus or under the table at a restaurant.  Just at US airport alone, 12,000 go missing each week.

It’s also very useful since people who find computers may not know exactly what to do with them.  Lost & Found takes the guesswork out of the process so that the lost laptop gets back to its owner as quickly as possible.

image: Lenovo

Most Collateral Recovered: Over $100,000 in Stolen Property

Scenario: While its owner slept, a laptop equipped with Computrace LoJack for Laptops was stolen in a home burglary. Two days later, Absolute was able to track the machine’s location and unauthorized user – all of the information police needed to identify a suspect and produce a search warrant. The search warrant was executed and the victim’s laptop recovered. Also seized at the scene: car parts, motorcycles, additional computers, and electronics among other stolen items, with a total value in excess of $100,000.

Most Distant Recovery: South Africa

Scenario: With Computrace LoJack for Laptops ever expanding its recovery borders, a laptop was recently recovered in Cape Town, South Africa just weeks after it was stolen in a home burglary.

Speediest Recovery: 6 Days

Scenario: Less than one week after it was stolen from a university rec hall, a laptop was returned to a relieved student, and the two thieves involved were arrested.

Most Computers Recovered by One Investigator: 17

Scenario: A recent burglary left a US college 17 computers lighter. With the help of Computrace, a skilled investigator was able to recover all 17, each from different locations but all with a connection to a single suspect. The outcome was favorable: a thwarted suspect facing multiple charges, an investigator impressed by Computrace’s capabilities and a happy school reunited with what is rightfully theirs.

Learn more about the Absolute Theft Recovery process

Please note that indictments and criminal complaints are merely unproven accusations and the accused in all cases are presumed innocent until proven guilty

The U.S. House Judiciary subcommittee met about the possibility of imposing legislation that would punish those who try to “coerce, intimidate, harass or cause substantial emotional distress to a person.”  It was proposed that offenders spend up to two years in prison for what is being called “cyberbullying.” 

Indeed, this is becoming a very serious and potentially deadly issue.  In 2006, the suicide of 13-year-old Megan Meier made headlines since she had been the victim of cyberbullying on MySpace.  The perpetrator ended up being an adult neighbor who was pretending to be a teenage boy.

On the flipside, students were suspended for bullying their principal through Facebook by calling him a “Grinch of School Spirit” and making sexually explicit, derogatory comments about him. 

The proposed legislation was actually inspired by Megan and has been dubbed the “Megan Meier Cyberbullying Prevention Act.”  Since people from all walks of life can now be hurt electronically (often anonymously), this legislation seems like a good idea, but the committee members felt that it could lead to a breach of free speech.

The bill aimed to specify “serious, repeated hostile communications made with the intent to harm” and one would think that this falls under the category of harassment, which is not permitted, regardless of one’s right to express themselves freely.

Without any legislation in place, the rules are very murky on this issue, which makes it hard to hold anyone accountable for their actions and how they might be harming someone else.

Since no action was taken on the proposed bill, the future of cyberbullying remains in question. 

image: Flickr Creative Commons

Dell has designed the new Inspiron Mini Nickelodeon notebook for kids, which is a great idea since it’s the right size for little hands, it’s super light (less than 3 pounds) and includes educational software that both parents and children will love. 

With so many kids using computers today, it’s no surprise that parents are looking for ways to  keep young ones, and their computers, safe. 

Absolute recognizes this need and has partnered with Dell to include a free 12-month subscription of Computrace LoJack for Laptops with their Inspiron Mini Nickelodeon notebooks. 

Absolute’s Vice President of Consumer Business, Mark Grace, had the following to say: “As any parent can tell you, once you put a highly portable computer like the Dell Inspiron Mini Nickelodeon Edition in the hands of your kids, they don’t want to put it down, let alone lose it altogether.  That’s why we have collaborated with Dell to include a subscription to Computrace LoJack for Laptops on every Nickelodeon Edition sold. With this protection conveniently built in, parents can feel secure knowing that Computrace LoJack for Laptops will help keep their kids safe by making their computers unattractive to thieves.”

This is definitely a great deal and the timing is perfect since school has just started and a lot of children are looking for a new computer. 

image: Dell

Absolute has opened a regional office in Tokyo, Japan in response to the growth in the Asian marketplace.  As a result, Japanese users will now be able to use Computrace for computer tracking as well as IT asset management and data protection. 

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.