http://www.anysim.net/

http://www.bmw-eba.de.tl

most time when people steal computers, they don’t just try to hock it right away. they look around for credit card numbers, autosaved login names, etc.

the thief might not be dumb enough to go online, but they would definitely look for credit card numbers. and passwords.

if the computer realizes it’s being stolen (or maybe always) they could put a text file called “importantinfo.txt” on the desktop or documents or someplace the theif would look.

then when the cc # inside the file is used, Undercover is reported of activity.

you could make a fake login pages to use the fake username and passwords provided like some random small federal credit union (there’s thousands of them) that lets you “transfer funds”.

better yet, a fake porno site that the thief will undoubtedly check out cause he thinks it is harmless.

example:

Credit Card:
John Doe
1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
Washington, D.C.
1234-5689-1234-5689
Exp: 02/09 CCV: 339

Checking and Savings:
http://www.mafcu.org (or just put the name so it’s not TOO obvious)
Account name: Johnnyd
Password: blablkasjd
Checking #: 210931029412

http://www.nakedcoeds247.com
username: johnpub
password: pornaddict

\”…These companies use engineering that can recover your lost data over ninety six percent of the time…\”

Also, I think that while the HDD can be protected from erasure via a firmware passwd, would it still work if the HDD was replaced? I think a chip on the motherboard is the way to go.

Otherwise, really nice software.

How about gathering information about other machines on whatever network the thief hooks to. This could give more specific insight into location in some cases. Just names of machines would be fine, as scanning them for services/ports could set off some alarms if the thief is knowledgeable enough to have security measures on their network. There are many times that knowing the names of other machines on a network can narrow down a search from saying the person is in XYZ organization’s network to saying the person is in UVW Building of XYZ organization’s network.

One addition that would help out is a user-chosen time frame to go into Plan B. In two months, the thief could half sold it to another person, who in turn sold it again. At this point, the person bringing the laptop in would hardly know that the system would have been stolen.

In addition to the IP logger, a data logger might also be of good use. Outgoing packets sent by the thief could be logged in order to identify the person who stole the laptop, and, in case it was sold, the original thief would be the one caught instead of some poor sap who happened to by the Mac in person or online.

#2 – It would be good if a user could choose from a list of Hardware Simulations to be used in Plan B mode, examples: The inbuilt keyboard and mouse stop working, The USB ports stop working, The laptop won’t charge.

#3 – Once the laptop has been marked as stolen, Undercover could either use a fake environment or make the theif obscure to important personal files (either hand-chosen by the user, by file type, or everything).

#4 – I know this has been mentioned, but I know that if I had my MacBook Pro stolen, I would want a photo of the theif emailed to me.

Thanks for the good read.

- Snapser

Anyway – I love the SMS alerts.

My idea however may or may not be possible. Much in the same way the screen is disabled, could Undercover some how lock down all ports, usb, firewire etc to prevent them being used. Likewise prevent the CD being used, either spitting back out any CD put in the draw or simply not allowing access to it.

It would be a great way to prevent the data being stolen and could make the user think its a worthless dead laptop, in turn either selling it quickly or taking it back to a store for repair. Of course the latter may not happen.

Thoughts?

CS

Firstly, SMS ability to txt info to your cell would be great. Secondly, it would be great if the program popped up an official-looking box asking to ‘Confirm password for keychain’ or something like that. If they get it wrong, it still accepts it, but then it backs up and encrypts designated sensitive information, like passwords, bank info, etc, to a secret folder.

And at the same time deleting all internet information; cache, history, etc. Or backing it up to the same folder. Either way, just making sure that secure info is out of the grasp of the thief while Undercover does its magic.

Now I know this last bit is probably a little out there, but it would be nice if there was some way to keep the thief from deleting anything. Like secretly copying and backing up the files, and making them look like they’re deleted. Or something like that.

I really do love this program though! My sisters and myself are all in college and we would all feel safer with Undercover.

Ironically enough, my sister’s boyfriend who’s currently living in England had his MBP stolen in blackest London. This was a couple months before Undercover made its debut, which is a pity. Does Undercover work in countries outside of the US? Like cooperating with law enforcement, etc?

Obviously, there are many uses for something that did this…. and responded by encrypting the drive and/or sending a “Killall” or “kill network” signal immediately. A clearly readable of the relevant logs would help, also.

A “permissive access” setting for those of us who use remote desktop apps would be necessary.

Randomly close the various ports…. sometime no keyboard functions, sometime no mouse, sometime no USB or Firewire, randomly resetting with every reset. And al the while searching for a signal to send it’s IP.

It isn’t clear, but if the laptop has a wireless card, why doesn’t Undercover “sniff” for a network of any strength, and send its uc signal?
Why not have the laptop do this at regular intervals even in standby or sleep modes? Even a thief may wander into the range of a WiFi spot.

I would also like a real-time tracking feature (with a google-maps like interface) to track where you laptop is whenever it connects to the internet.