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How To Prepare For A Stolen Mac

freemacblog.com — "Recently, a good friend of mine had his home broken into by a thief. They came in thru a side window, stole both of his Macs (left both of the PC ’s). I’ve started to compile a list of things to consider in preparing for a situation like this if it happened to me. I thought I’d list it here for others."

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  • meski, on 10/12/2007, -7/+6not a bad idea
    • knightblade2oo4, on 10/12/2007, -14/+5good idea, bad server.

      digg effect after 28 diggs.
    • indraneel24, on 10/12/2007, -5/+14people don't have to digg it to read it.
    • Reidtheweed01, on 10/12/2007, -17/+6Im 100% sure his friend either didnt even have 2 PC's OR both of the macs where notebooks and the PC's were desktops, which is why they wouldnt be stolen. Everyone always has to try to slip in a little microsoft bash, even when its obvious they are lying.
    • TomP, on 10/12/2007, -6/+10Down but heres the basics

      1. Have A Hard Copy Of Your Serial Number - Your serial number will be on your receipt. Be sure that it is in a safe place. If you only have a digital copy (in an email), print off a copy and keep it somewhere safe. If your Mac is stolen, you’ll want to be sure to give this to the police. It will help them in identifying your stolen property. Also, pawn shops are required to report serial numbers to the local police so they can be cross checked with the reports of theft.
      2. Have A Good Backup Of Your Machine - Most people back up in case of data loss, but it’s important to back up in case of data theft as well. Be sure your external hard drive isn’t permanently sitting next to your machine. If you want it always connected, put it in a locked drawer and drill a hole for the power and transfer cable to be fished out.I back up my machines every Friday. As soon as I’m done, I return the external hard drive to the safe in my closet. That keeps it safe from theft and from fire.

      At Macminicolo.net, we have some customers who use a colocated mini just to back up their machine each night. If every they have to replace their home Mac, they can download everything from the hosted mini.
      3. Look Into Tracking Software - The chances of you getting your machine back are small, but every little bit helps. Consider programs like iAlertU (free) which may scare off a thief. Or programs like Undercover that will track your machine as it connects to the internet. If you have a built in camera, it will take pictures of the person to be sent. If it never connects to the internet, the program “will simulate a hardware failure by gradually making the screen darker until it becomes unusable.”Sure, these programs can be erased with a new install of the OS, but every little bit helps. The chances are high that the thief won’t know how to do that. Also, they probably weren’t able to steal your restore disks.
      4. Use A Cable Lock - All Apple laptops come with a Kensington Security Slot. These slots make it easy to tether your machine to your desk. Applelocks.com offers inexpensive cable for all kinds of Macs. Both key locks and combination locks are available.
      5. Report The Stolen Mac To Apple - Call Apple and report that the Mac has been stolen by giving them the serial. They won’t actively track the Mac, but if anyone comes in to have the machine looked at for repair, the records will indicate that it has been stolen.
      6. Get Insurance On Your Machine - Be sure that your Renter’s or Homeowners’s insurance covers your computers. Since this has happened to my friend, my wife and I added computer insurance to our coverage. Our computers, cameras and TV’s are covered up to $30k and it only added $18/ month to our insurance. That is very, very reasonable.
      7. Encrypt The Sensitive Data That You Store - If you have banking records, birth certificates and other scanned documents that are sensitive, be sure you keep them in an encrypted disk image. Programs like FreeDMG (free) make this easy to do. Just make a folder of all the files, drop it on there and add an encryption. You can still open it whenever you need something, but a thief wouldn’t be able to do it easily. Send a copy of that image to a family member for safe keeping as well.
      8. Get Familiar With ebay and Craigslist - Craigslist and ebay have made it really easy to sell your old junk. It also makes it easy to sell stolen goods. Be sure you are familiar with using these sites. When your machine is stolen, be sure to monitor them for your stolen Mac. ebay will allow you to search the listings that are near your home.
      9. Add Your Contact Info To Your Login Window - When your machine starts up, be sure that your contact info is there on the login screen. This is easy and fast to do following the steps in this hint. If the thief never starts up the machine and just sells it off to someone, they’ll start it up and see your “This machine belongs to…” info.
      10. Turn Off Automatic Login - It is so convenient to have your machine automatically log into your account, but it’s not safe. Be sure it is set to require your password each time. That way, the thief may have your machine, but not your info. (Again, I’m aware that passwords can be changed with the restore disk, but hopefully they didn’t get that too.)
    • Giever, on 10/12/2007, -14/+4@Reidtheweed01
      Or perhaps he just knew that Macs are overpriced. ;)
    • foolfromhell, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2An idea would be for the iSight to take pictures periodically after reported stolen. As a security measure.
    • Giever, on 10/12/2007, -9/+1Alternative:
      Me: Your mama's so fat that her belly button makes an echo.
      Kid/Mac user: My mom's not fat! AUUUGGHH! *Beats me up*

      Defensive, much?
    • TheReport, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2You know I read this one great tip to add to the list, but I'm not sure how safe it would be, add a piece of paper inside where the battery resides with contact info and name saying if the note hadn't been taken out during the transition to the repair shop then the mac could possibly be a stolen item. I suggest this as well as the reporting to apple just because sometimes I really question how well serial numbers are crossed checked at some of these stores, and this is just one precautionary measure to help ensure that the asshat that stole your laptop gets busted.
  • billyboobs34, on 10/12/2007, -9/+3I'd bet anything it was someone he knew...
    • internetworld7, on 10/12/2007, -5/+0Why not advise your friend to move out of the ghetto. :)
  • cj171, on 10/12/2007, -8/+1http://www.duggmirror.com

    hmm appears duggmirror didn't even grab it....
  • kidcodea, on 10/12/2007, -32/+8so now u know the thief was a *****
    • Chrysalid, on 10/12/2007, -9/+5You, sir, win the "The Most Obsolete Comment of the Month" prize.
  • kwojniak, on 10/12/2007, -2/+16Article summary:

    1) Have A Hard Copy Of Your Serial Number
    2) Have A Good Backup Of Your Machine
    3) Look Into Tracking Software
    4) Use A Cable Lock
    5) Report The Stolen Mac To Apple
    6) Get Insurance On Your Machine
    7) Encrypt The Sensitive Data That You Store
    8) Get Familiar With ebay and Craigslist
    9) Add Your Contact Info To Your Login Window
    10) Turn Off Automatic Login
  • WackyT, on 10/12/2007, -10/+3So, PCs are more secure than Macs?
    • foolfromhell, on 10/12/2007, -5/+1No one can say that no one wants to steal a PC the same way people aren't allowed to say no one wants to hack a Mac
  • Floodle, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I'd say enable automatic logon and have iAlertU installed.
    Everyone assumes that all criminals are thick and can't use computers - stop kidding yourselves, they know how to reset bios passwords, reinstall OS's etc. the best thing you can do is make it as easy as possible for the machine to connect to the internet and then have a way of tracing it.
  • substrom, on 10/12/2007, -8/+4took the mac's and left the pc's!!
    well at least we now know the thieves were girls....narrows it down slightly for the police.
    • WackyT, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1Or gays wanting to look good at the bistro.
  • daller, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4this should be prepare ur computer not ur Mac. most of the tips is common sence but i would also say do backups not 1 backup if you have 2 fw drives keep them in diffrent locations like 1 at home and 1 at work. Set a shell script that tells you the IP when it boots. there is millions of things to do but the most important is backup.
  • grapetonic, on 10/12/2007, -0/+21. Get a good home insurance.
    2. Keep backups separated from your home.
    3. Encrypt sensitive data.

    There's nothing more to it. It's only hardware. Hardware can be replaced by your insurance company.
  • stukdog, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Sorry for the server slowing down everyone. We now have to stories on the homepage of digg that are pointing to our sites. There's only so much you can do to prepare for things like that.
  • loebjack, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7I have been running a public database for Mac stolen serial numbers for several years. It is a good place to submit your serial number in addition to Apple. It is publicly searchable and used by other tracking software. http://www.powermax.com/cgi-bin/sn_browse.cgi
    • combatchuck, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I don't know why anybody would digg this down, it's an excellent tool.
  • Stormwave0, on 10/12/2007, -4/+3Wait, you're worried about your Mac being stolen? What about all your credit cards, social security info, passport, checkbook? I find it ridiculous that you're securing a computer while you're probably ignoring all the valuable stuff that, if stolen, would ruin your life.
    • dkosburn, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Anymore, people keep all that information ON their computers in one form or another. Think of the average persons laptop as a big shiny wallet.

      Once you've emptied someones wallet, you've got an empty wallet. With a laptop you've got something you can sell for a grand or more on top of what you get from the info you took off it.

      Securing computers is a valid concern, but I don't think anyone here has said "Make sure your computer is lock tight, then you can leave your house unlocked without fear".

      Am I making any sense?
  • Cam_86, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2kensington locks are useless in this situation. They are only made to be used in public places, where people would stop someone from cutting the cable with wire cutters.

    If someone breaks into your house, a 1mm thick wire isn't going to slow you down... esp. if you have the tools needed to break into someones place.
  • sfacets, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2"left both the PC's"... at least the thief(ves) had good taste ;)
  • moshi, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0that's pretty suss i guess, but the thieves must've been smart enough to realise one type was more 'steal-able' than the others
    these tips are pretty useful
  • JimXugle, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1is there a FLOSS program similar to Undercover? I don't like closed-sourcedness in security apps.
  • Georgy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1its prob just easy stealin a mac rather than the pc's,i mean an imac doesn have cpu also to lug around
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