White Plains man uses technology to help police find suspect in laptop theft WHITE PLAINS - After his laptop computer was stolen, Jose Caceres used a remote access program to log on every day and watch it being used. "I reported the theft to the police and they were investigating, then I decided to sign on and see what the guy was doing with my computer,'' the 27-year-old White Plains man said. "Having remote access is such an advantage, because it allows you to do something like this.'' In the end, it allowed him to help police solve the case. Caceres' laptop was stolen on Sept. 4, when he left it on top of his car while he was carrying other things into his home, police said. For several days afterward, he said, he logged on to see if he could find out who had the stolen computer. "It was kind of frustrating because he was mostly using it to watch porn,'' Caceres said. "I couldn't get any information about him.'' That changed last week, when Caceres noticed that someone was typing in a name and address, apparently to register on an Internet Web site. "I gave the information to the police and a few hours later they called and told me that they caught the guy and got my computer back,'' he said. "I was quite surprised at how fast they got him, but I was very happy.'' Gabriel Mejia, 34, of 18-20 Osborne St., White Plains, was charged with fourth-degree grand larceny, a felony, after police went to his apartment, talked to him and found the stolen laptop, Lt. Eric Fischer said yesterday. The incident marked the third time in recent months that tech-savvy victims have supplied police with information that led to arrests. The first happened in May, when a White Plains woman whose laptop was stolen from her apartment used remote access technology to sign on, then activated the stolen computer's camera and snapped pictures of the man using it. Police used the photos led to arrest Edmon Shahikian, 23, of Katonah and Ian Frias, 20, of the Bronx on charges of second-degree burglary and fourth-degree possession of stolen property, both felonies. Authorities said both men had attended a party at the victim's apartment a few weeks before it was burglarized. Earlier this month, police arrested Eric Shi, 17, of Scarsdale. He was accused of trying to sell a stolen $2,275 mountain bike. In that case, the 13-year-old victim saw his bike for sale on eBay and contacted police. An undercover officer posing as a potential buyer set up a meeting in White Plains with Shi on Sept. 17. He was charged with fourth-degree possession of stolen property when he showed up with the bike. "This is what happens when you have victims who get involved and use the available technology to their advantage,'' said Fischer, commander of the White Plains police detective division. "We end up making an arrest and the victims get their property back.'' -Sauce: http://www.lohud.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081001/NEWS02/810010370
I have loJack for my laptop. Basically a software that contacts authorities if I report my laptop stolen. Not that they could log in my laptop anyway, as there fingerprints don't match mine.
Thats quite awesome - too bad I don't have a laptop. Theifs should really learn a lesson from this though. Hopefully they won't but it is funny to read about what happens in the aftermath. The woman with the camera made me lol a bit. So sneaky...
Maybe if it had twin automatic rifles on each side with titanium plating cacooning everything but the wheels and bullet proof glass in the front to see and a cup holder inside. Kind of reminds me that my friend has just moved into a new appartment in Boston and woke up in the middle of night and a guy was stealing her stuff and threatened her. He got caught on the way out though lol.
Biometrics FTW! I have a built-in aswell, its so great. And very cool. Anyways, ive heard stories like that before. Its pretty sick actually. I guess with all the hacking and **** thats going on, something good has to come out of it. And there it is.
nice. I enjoyed reading of laptop thieves getting caught because i know if mine was stolen, i'd be heartbroken [/maclover] so you can actually remotely do things like access the computer camera? that's crazy.
RATs can be miracle workers, but more often they just spy on your information and make you format your hard drive. As for this whole biometrics craze, I find it a bit stupid, to say the least. Fingerprint strips are pretty easy to fool. If you can find something that the user left his finger prints on, you can put graphite powder over it, put tape over the graphite, and then scan the graphite 'fingerprint'. Facial recognition ones are even easier. Get a photo of the user. And these are just dealing with the bottom level of the biometrics system. If you can sneak a hardware sniffer between the computer and the biometrics, then you can intercept the data given to the computer from the biometrics and re-insert it later.
GEEKS FTW!!!!!!!!! but seriously, that is just epic. you sure the producer of the laptop didnt set the thievery up for publicity?
Facial Recognition, IMO, was never intended for security use. As a matter of fact, im fairly sure it was developed (at least in part) by casinos so they could find card counters. And no, i didnt get that from the movie 21. Dont even try that. Certain figerprint readers can be easier to fool than others. some all you need is a piece of paper. Others it can get alot more complicated. Also, i know for a fact that my biometric reader can save the data directly to the biometric device, which would render the sniffer useless. IDK how mine works, but its just a strip (im not sure if its pressure or optical based), but i know for a fact it would be a least somewhat difficult to crack it using the method above, because you need to slide your finger across it while applying pressure, which would destroy the fine graphite pattern on the tape. But, really, the best security is probably lo-jack or something. There is a difference between protecting files (biometric readers) and protecting the computer (lo-jack and other anti-theft devices).