Official News page 9

REAL LIFE NEWS: COMPUTER THIEF CAUGHT BY TRACKING SOFTWARE

by Hazed

Now this really is a clever piece of software. It's called GadgetTrak and it does what the name suggests - helps you track down the computer if it goes missing. It's just had its first real life test, and it worked a treat!

An iMac that had the software installed was stolen two weeks ago. Now, if the thief had been clever enough to reformat the hard disk, he would have been safe; and if he'd stayed off the net, he'd not have been caught either, but he wasn't and he didn't... The anti-theft tracking system collected loads of information and as soon as he went online, it transmitted it all back home. It worked out his latitude and longitude, and provided a link to Google Maps showing exactly where he was, gave his IP address and his username, and even took his photo using the built-in webcam.

As a result, the iMac and two other stolen laptops were traced to a tattoo parlor in Brooklyn and reunited with their owners.

Brilliant!

Details here.

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