Posts Tagged ‘Computrace’

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 announced this month that geofencing capabilities will now be supported for commercial Computrace customers.

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.

Many of us think about protecting our data against the strangers of the world who might be trying to find a way to use our information to their benefit.  It can be surprising, therefore, when the breach occurs within our company (or circle of friends, family, etc…).  Unfortunately, DuPont is learning that insider theft is becoming more and more common.

The industrial manufacturing company discovered that one of their employees, a senior research chemist, transferred confidential files containing trade secrets from his company-issued laptop to an external hard drive.

Immediately, I couldn’t help but wonder why DuPont wouldn’t have some sort of alert in place in case someone tried to attach a hard drive to company computers.  I was further baffled when I learned that this isn’t the first time they’ve been through this. 

After 10 years with DuPont, an employee gathered information from thousands of documents and scientific abstracts.  His mission?  To sell the information to rival company, Victrex.  He ended up being sentenced to 18 months of jail time.

Aside from setting up some sort of alert system for when data breaches occur and using laptop security products like Computrace, DuPont (and other companies) has to find a way to work around the fact that even people with legitimate access to their information need to be considered potential threats. 

image: www.sxc.hu

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 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.

Absolute Software made two big announcements recently about it’s leading laptop security software platform, Computrace.

New Computrace Plug-In for McAfee ePolicy Orchestrator

Not only is LoJack for Laptops (Computrace for consumers) now available in the McAfee online store, but Computrace customers can now view asset tracking and security information within the McAfee ePolicy Orchestrator (ePO)!

This new plug-in allows IT administrators to use the ePO software to deploy Computrace to ePO managed assets, to view reports from one central place (vs two dashboards), and to set up summary reports on computers & mobile assets with Computrace installed.

The Absolute Customer Center will continue to offer additional ways to manage your Computrace-protected assets, including geolocation tracking, recovery of missing assets, and performance of remote data deletes. Learn more about this news here.

Computrace for Netbooks Now Abailable

Computrace for Netbooks was launched last week, extending our award-winning laptop security platform to a whole series of ultra-portable computers that are popular with schools, healthcare organizations and corporations.

“Computer populations now include desktops, laptops, smartphones, tablets and now netbooks – often of different ages from a variety of manufacturers. Our goal is to provide visibility and security regardless of form factor and computer brand.” – John Livingston, Chairman and CEO of Absolute

Computrace for Netbooks is available for both PC and Mac operating systems. Learn more about this news here.

Absolute Software recently announced that Getac computers now support Computrace at the firmware level.

The Getac Rugged Notebook (model A790) and Rugged Tablet (V100) are the latest laptops with embedded Computrace support. The B300, E100, M230 & P470 models will be phased in over the coming months, making it so all Getac rugged laptop and tablet computers will feature Computrace.

The Computrace BIOS support module is shipped disabled and turned off from the manufacturer. Once the customer installs the Computrace Agent, pays for the Absolute Tracking and Recovery service and activates the Computrace BIOS support module, then the extra level of security and firmware persistence will be activated.

Embedding support for the Computrace Agent into the BIOS provides customers the highest level of persistence and allows the Computrace agent to survive operating system re-installations, hard drive reformats and even hard drive replacements. Getac president, Jim Rimay, says:

“Having Computrace embedded in the firmware of our computers gives our customers the additional security and satisfaction of knowing they can track and manage computers as well as delete sensitive data even if the hard drive is replaced or reformatted. Absolute’s services are an ideal complement to our world-class rugged notebook computers and tablets.”

For a full list of firmware-supported computers (from Dell to Fujitsu to Toshiba and more), see here.

Also check out Daily DIY’s “Top 10 Ways to Lock Down Your Data“, which encapsulates many of the tips we’ve talked about here on the blog before. The list includes tips such as encryption, using KeePass for password security, using smarter security questions and protecting your laptop (something we can help with).

A laptop equipped with Computrace began calling into the Absolute Monitoring Center just one day after it was stolen from a school computer lab. The Absolute Theft Recovery Team was then able to extract information on the laptop’s unauthorized user – enough details for police to identify a residence and visit the user’s home. Let the lies begin.

When police first visited the residence, the user’s roommate denied that the user lived there. Nope. The officer called the residence the next day and was able to speak to the user directly. She reluctantly agreed to meet up with the officer, after he expressed the serious nature of the call.

The two met, and when the officer first asked the user how she obtained the laptop, she claimed to have purchased it from a friend five years ago. Wrong. The laptop had been stolen from the school just weeks prior and was not even five years old.

When the officer questioned this initial story, the user suddenly became fuzzy on the details. Maybe she had purchased the laptop from the friend just a year and a half prior? No – that story didn’t work either. The school was still in possession of the laptop at that time. Try again.

Her story slowly adjusted, with several more stabs at an appropriate purchase time. Eventually, after several failed attempts, the user reached a more probable explanation. Despite the transaction seeming suspicious, she had traded some of her jewelry for the stolen laptop. Bingo - that’s the one.

Police continue to work with the user to identify the thief who passed it on. The laptop has been returned to the school and charges are pending.

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 Absolute Theft Recovery Team has seen the successful recovery of tens of thousands of stolen computers. Comprised of former police officers and seasoned law professionals, the team works closely with police and law enforcement agencies to ensure that laptops are recovered and that thieves are located.

Once a stolen computer connects to the Internet, the Computrace Agent silently sends location information to the Absolute Theft Recovery Team. After receiving customer consent, the team begins to forensically mine the computer using a variety of procedures, including key captures, registry and file scanning, geolocation, and other investigative techniques. These procedures help to gather evidence and determine who has the computer and how it is being used. Extracted evidence is then provided to police, who use the information to obtain search warrants or subpoenas and perform the physical recovery.

The stolen computer is returned to the owner directly, and no further involvement beyond reporting the theft is required. As customer privacy is our utmost concern, Absolute Forensics Tools are only deployed upon receiving a report of theft and only with express permission of the customer.