How to Track a Stolen Laptop (Page 2 of 3)

That Ponemon Institute survey also found:

• 53 percent of business travelers surveyed carry sensitive corporate information on their laptop.
• 65 percent of those who carry confidential information have not taken steps to protect it while traveling.
• 42 percent of respondents say they do not back up their data.

Whew!

The model used by Adeona is similar to other notebook tracking services, but the details are different. In their model, a cryptographic key is generated and saved to external storage like a USB flash drive. This key is the “seed” and it is used to send a unique cipher each time the notebook updates. In other words, the server itself is open, but the message is encrypted.

Because it is encrypted, the data is protected at the server end. A malicious employee or data thief could not obtain information about who you are and where you are. Even if they wanted to, the folks behind Adeano wouldn't be able to sell your location or your identity.

Find an excellent, detailed Windows XP/Vista installation guide and the download links for Adeona here.

Upon installation in Windows, it asks for a password. Make this a good password because it uses it as part of the generated cipher. The cipher then becomes a file named “adeona-retrievecredentials.ost” on the desktop. You’ll need this in order to retrieve your notebook’s location so they suggest saving it to an external USB flash drive and to another computer or mailing it to yourself. The installer finishes by asking you to wait for an hour before testing retrieval.

Here’s how the flow works with Adeona:

• Software is installed on the notebook.
• The software periodically communicates with a server to provide the user’s IP address and local network topology.
• The machine is stolen.
• The owner uses another computer, downloads the Adeona Windows, Linux, or OS-X executables if not previously installed, and runs the retrieval application, providing his notebook’s cipher file and the password he used during setup. (So don’t keep your flash drive in the same bag as the notebook. The .ost file is a text file – you can also back it up to a CD and store it separately from your laptop.)
• The server then sends back location information. The default is for the last two days, but up to a week’s report may be requested.

Note that the Adeona client program need not be installed for the retrieval program to work.

Here’s what a report may include.

• Internal IP address - the Internet location from the operating system.
• External IP Address – the location from a location web server.
• Nearby routers along the path – obtained by traceroute.
• Access point – the name of the wireless hotspot.
• Photos – lucky MacBook owners can get a picture of the thief from the built-in webcam.

When making a retrieval, you can check as often as you like. More often than thirty minutes, however, might not yield better results. (Adeano can go up to 30 minutes between server contacts.)

A smart thing to do would be to go ahead and pre-install Adeona on your desktop along with a copy of the .ost file.

And that’s another point. Should you use Adeona on your desktop? Yes. If you’re worried about your desktop, office box, or server walking away, sure, why not use Adeona on them, too?