Tracking down a computer thief

futility

My friends computer was stolen. A police report was filed but it's not like the tv csi team is on the case.

Anyway he's tried tracking down his computer through various networking tools but so far nothing came up until now. Apparently his dropbox account was cleared out, and from there we got the ip address of who cleared it. When we called the isp they told us they don't have the technology to track people down, and by plugging the ip into some ip search engines it's placed it in various locations around the city.

Is there any way other way we can track this person down?

DragonPup

The ISP can definately tell who what customer it was, but they probably won't release that information without cops, a court order, or a warrent.

wunderbar

DragonPup wrote: »

The ISP can definately tell who what customer it was, but they probably won't release that information without cops, a court order, or a warrent.

1ddqd

Call the police, see if a detective was ever assigned, then give him that info. They can request a (I think it's provisional) warrant for that specific IP tracking.

Emanon

1ddqd wrote: »

Call the police, see if a detective was ever assigned, then give him that info. They can request a (I think it's provisional) warrant for that specific IP tracking.

I work for a commercial ISP now and this can be done. This is how the cops catch online criminals.

Satsumomo

Hmmm... This makes me ask, what can I/we do to be prepared in the case our computers get stolen?

Like, what software/tools can I install so in the case my computer is stolen, I can track it down if it simply goes online?

MushroomStick

Is there anything you can put on a computer to get it to "phone home" as soon as a thief hooks it up to a network?

Satsumomo

I know there are several companies that do this tracking for you, but I'm looking for something free B-)

MushroomStick

I'm not typing about having someone track down the computer. I mean like something so the computer notices its not at home and calls for help.

TK-42-1

MushroomStick wrote: »

I'm not typing about having someone track down the computer. I mean like something so the computer notices its not at home and calls for help.

that would be nice. sort of like a deadman's switch you can put on there to where if it connects to a new network and you dont clear it within 6 hours or something it kills the drives. if you find something like this let me know.

Darkewolfe

The best thing, as some have said, is to call the detective on your case and give him all the new evidence you have. While he might not care as much as you, he's the one with the necessary legal backing to look into things you can't.

futility

he went to the detective with the ip

1ddqd

LoJack for Computers is available, but I don't know of a freeware alternative.

BlindZenDriver

MushroomStick wrote: »

I'm not typing about having someone track down the computer. I mean like something so the computer notices its not at home and calls for help.

I should not be that hard to write a small program which does the following when windows boots:

A. Check what IP it is connected with the internet with and if different than allowed send an e-mail using fx. gmail with what the new IP is.
B. Look for what is on the LAN and what user profiles is on the computer and so on. With a bit of luck a new user may make a new account in his or her name or perhaps there could be documents containing personal info giving away the identity. This should of course the be posted to the gmail account.

The B part can be very elaborated if desired. The more advance the bigger the risk of detection and essentially what is needed is a piece of personalized spyware. In some countries there may actually be some legal problems with running such a spy operation. I wonder how far you can go before it is hacking or data theft and not a crime solving procedure.


If just making sure data is secure and part of the hardware is useless to the thief then there are laptops with hardware codes and data encryption of storage. Also you can fit a disc control with encryption to just about any none-laptop system.

rockmonkey

BlindZenDriver wrote: »

MushroomStick wrote: »

I'm not typing about having someone track down the computer. I mean like something so the computer notices its not at home and calls for help.

I should not be that hard to write a small program which does the following when windows boots:

A. Check what IP it is connected with the internet with and if different than allowed send an e-mail using fx. gmail with what the new IP is.
B. Look for what is on the LAN and what user profiles is on the computer and so on. With a bit of luck a new user may make a new account in his or her name or perhaps there could be documents containing personal info giving away the identity. This should of course the be posted to the gmail account.

The B part can be very elaborated if desired. The more advance the bigger the risk of detection and essentially what is needed is a piece of personalized spyware. In some countries there may actually be some legal problems with running such a spy operation. I wonder how far you can go before it is hacking or data theft and not a crime solving procedure.


If just making sure data is secure and part of the hardware is useless to the thief then there are laptops with hardware codes and data encryption of storage. Also you can fit a disc control with encryption to just about any none-laptop system.

I find the idea of basically using spyware to PROTECT your own computer interesting.
If you could get the IP address and have some remote access program installed before it's stolen you could potentially watch/log the activity on your desktop after it was stolen from another computer.

Bonus points if it's a laptop w/ built-in webcam and the trojan/back orifice/remote desktop software can activity the webcam remotely.


The parental security apps that exist for parents to monitor/spy on their childrens' computer activity might be useful if they: also logged IP address, and could send the recorded information to an online source, such as an email or website designed to receive the data.

Satsumomo

Someone was stealing money from my mom's file cabinet in her own bedroom. We were quite sure it was the maid, but to be sure we installed a webcam, and this software which I can't remember it's name, would run silently on the computer, activate only if it detected movement and had the option of sending pictures to a specified email. So it's not too far-fetched of an idea.