Comments on: Remote access programs are good security for laptops

By: nisa

nisa — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 03:34:35 +0000

Tracking laptop activity is pretty interesting but what will happen if the thief didn’t use the laptop to do anything personal?

By: Woody

Woody — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 02:18:10 +0000

Lovely story. I did not realize that you could track a laptop that way.

By: Jose

Jose — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 23:31:04 +0000

I used LogMeIn.

By: Jose

Jose — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 23:28:56 +0000

Hello Everyone.
The one thing I did first is to close the message saying “this computer is being access remotely.”

By: paul

paul — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 12:17:35 +0000

logmein wont work as well for accessing your stolen laptop, it pops up a message saying that the computer is being remote controlled when you access it.

By: Hax0r

Hax0r — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 01:16:52 +0000

Some of you are just stupid, a NAT router does not typically disallow “outgoing” connections.

In this case, the user could have setup a daemon/service that connected back to his home system.

Also, UPnP, people dumb enough to use a SOHO router typically leave it enabled.

BTW, NOT A HACK!!
EOF

By: kt

kt — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 21:34:23 +0000

i use logmein.com to keep track of all my computers, it has a web based interface so you can login anywhere. The best part is that it will work through just about any firewall.

By: k0usi

k0usi — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 17:39:53 +0000

@ Strofcon – Most routers don’t allow login from the WAN for security reasons, you would be hitting the deaf end of the router.

By: m2oore

m2oore — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 17:39:29 +0000

The tool used was probably something like go to my pc or something very similar.

These programs call to the home server often to identify IP address and are also firewall friendly because they all run through port 80.

By: Lupin

Lupin — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 17:09:04 +0000

I format all my stolen laptops before i use them.

By: The Poolshark

The Poolshark — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 16:18:02 +0000

If he had Teamviewer installed and set up on the pc to start with windows. All he would need is the ID that is assigned to the laptop and the password. I have used it for over a year and the ID number has never changed. It works through firewalls, proxy, and routers with no problem. Best of all, it is free to use in a non-commercial application.

By: Strofcon

Strofcon — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 16:17:49 +0000

Even though you’d only get a router’s IP in most cases and the ports would obviously not be forwarded, the router will typically not be protected in any way. Easy enough to log in with defaults, forward ports, and be on your merry way.

Assuming, of course, that the router can forward ports… though I’m not aware of many that can’t.

By: k0usi

k0usi — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 15:41:35 +0000

Well, even with the IP address of the thief you would most likely be out of luck. This person is still likely behind a router, *without* ports forwarded, so it wouldn’t be as simple as connecting to their IP.

The easiest way to implement this is with an automatic VPN connection back home, preferably in the background. In that case, from home, you can just connect to the IP showing up in your VPN connections. Alternatively you can use Hamachi VPN for even more simplification.

If you weren’t planning on using a VPN, you would have to schedule outbound connections via SSH or VNC to a set IP or dynamic DNS service. Again, knowing the IP of the thief is very little help besides general location and/or getting info from an ISP.

tl;dr Scheduled connections out, or auto VPN to access your computer when it is stolen.

By: googlehood

googlehood — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 14:44:23 +0000

Why no using google to pinpoint the location of machine. Iphone and itouch does this without need of gps tracking. Mechanism is related to location of found wireless networks in neigbourhood.

By: Wwhat

Wwhat — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 12:08:29 +0000

Now people that install rootkits or trojans can claim they were helping people with security by making their system remotely accessible, or even sell their trojans as security programs.