Posts Tagged ‘Absolute Software’

Absolute Software and IAITAM co-hosted a webinar entitled “Compliance, Identification and Life-Cycle Management in a Mobile Environment.”

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

Earlier this month, PC World posted a true story about a man who was able to recover his stolen laptops using a free remote-access service, LogMeIn.

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.

Absolute Software has a very busy event calendar coming up. If you are going to any of these events, stop by the booth to say hi! We’d love to talk. Here are just some of the events where we’ll be (see the full list 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.

The NY Times had put a great article this week entitled "On the Trail of the Missing Gadget." Of course, Absolute Software’s Computrace / LoJack products fall into this category of "missing gadgetry retrieval", so to speak. The article does a great job of generalizing how these technologies and services work, and how absolutely easy it is for the end user. The software just sits there until you need it – then we do all the work to help retrieve your missing gadget if it does go missing! Simple!

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.

Absolute Software celebrated its new U.S. headquarters in Austin, Texas with an open house on July 16th! Absolute Software CEO, John Livingston, flew down to Austin to cut the symbolic red ribbon at the open house. Also with him in the photo below are Carter McCrary, COO of Absolute, and Rob Chase, CFO of Absolute:

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

A home burglary left a Computrace LoJack for Laptops customer without her laptop. Less than one week later, the stolen laptop connected to the internet, allowing the Absolute Theft Recovery Team to begin work on recovery.

Absolute Recovery Officers were able to glean a recurrent username from the machine, and traced the laptop’s location to a nearby suburb. This information was passed on to police, who used it to obtain a search warrant for the identified residence.

In a fruitful search, police recovered more than just the stolen computer – over $2,000 in narcotics, $5,000 in firearms, and $3,000 in criminal proceeds were also seized. And if over $10,000 in recovered collateral was not enough, an established cock fighting game operation was uncovered in the home’s basement. Further investigation revealed that the suspect had a history of charges relating to underground game fights. 

The officer was happy to add to this criminal record; the suspect now faces charges of Receiving Stolen Property and Possession of Narcotics. Further charges in relation to the other findings are pending.

This is the second Computrace-equipped laptop that the involved officer has recovered (although notably, his first recovery was less exciting!). He remarked to an Absolute Recovery Officer that Computrace LoJack for Laptops is “a very handy piece of equipment”.

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.

Absolute Software CEO John Livingston was recently interviewed by FOX Business. The interview follows the announcement that Absolute had opened a new U.S. headquarters in Austin, Texas. Despite reports of the economic downturn in the U.S., Absolute has plans to double the number of employees in the new U.S. office in the next 2 years!

Check out John on the “Small Business, Big Ideas” segment below:

Absolute Software became a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner back in 2007, a recognition that Absolute continues to demonstrate the highest level of proficiency with Microsoft-based technologies and aptly incorporates these technologies into its customer solutions. As a continued part of that alliance, Bill Hunka, Director of Business Development at Absolute, and Bill Gordon Director of Absolute’s Wireless team,  talk about our technology in a long interview here, and in a shorter review here:

Don’t forget, Computrace and LoJack for Laptops also work on the Mac!

Absolute Software has made 2 big announcements this month. The first, that Absolute has expanded its offices to open a US headquarters in Austin, Texas. The second, that Absolute now supports Windows 7.

Absolute in Texas

Absolute Software is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada, with offices in the US, UK and Western Europe. We also have partner sales offices in Australia, Latin America, the Caribbean and South Africa. Now, however, we have a permanent U.S. headquarters in Austin, Texas. The new US headquarters is home to Absolute’s U.S.-based sales team and its consumer business.

On July 16th, you can help us celebrate by coming to our Open House. You can RSVP here.

Absolute Supports Windows 7

Absolute now supports Windows 7 and its Sensor and Location platform, which facilitates access to geolocation devices installed on a computer. Computrace utilizes several location location determination methodologies, including GPS and Wi-Fi triangulation, to give customers unprecedented capabilities for tracking and managing their mobile computers. The Windows Sensor and Location API makes it quicker for Absolute to support new technology. You can learn more about this here.

Last month we announced that Absolute Software’s Computrace Mobile was nominated for a  Stevie Award for “New Product or Service of the Year – Software as a Service.” Computrace Mobile has now been selected as a Finalist for the awards!

During the month of preliminary judging, Absolute Software joins 11 other companies listed as finalists in this category. Final Stevie winners will be determined in the final judging that began this week. If you took the time to vote for Computrace Mobile, thanks!

The names of Stevie winners will be announced at the 2009 awards dinner and presentations in New York’s Marriott Marquis Hotel on Monday, June 22.