Re: Searching for stolen computers


Subject: Re: Searching for stolen computers
From: Mike Tibor (tibor@lib.uaa.alaska.edu)
Date: Wed Sep 10 2003 - 14:30:22 AKDT


On Wed, 10 Sep 2003, John Peck wrote:

> I recently had a computer stolen from work over the weekend. We were in
> the process of moving, so the machine wasn't cable locked.
>
> It hasn't turned up anywhere on our local network. So, does anybody
> have an ideas on how to locate a computer on the Internet when all you
> have is the make, model, and HW address of the NIC?

Theoretically I suppose you could email the MAC address and a basic
explanation of the theft, including the University Police case number (you
did file a theft/burglary report with University Police or APD, right?) to
the security contacts at ACS and GCI, with a request that if they see that
MAC pop up on their network to call the police. I wouldn't expect much
from that though--that's asking quite a bit from people who are probably
already overworked.

Other than that, if you included any serial numbers in your police report,
they get entered into the Alaska Public Safety Information Network, and if
at any point in the future a cop (anywhere in the state) runs across the
hardware and suspects that it's stolen, he or she can run the serial
number in APSIN and it'll come back stolen. The chances for success there
are also limited in that something has to key the cop in to the
possibility that the hardware was stolen.

For example, if the cop pulls a guy over and sees all the hardware in the
back of his car, and the suspect looks nervous when the cop questions him
about it, the cop would then have reason enough to run the serial numbers
through APSIN. On the other hand, if the cop responds to a residence
because of something like a loud music complaint, and simply sees a
computer inside, there's nothing there that would indicate the computer
was possibly stolen, and so the cop would have no reason to check it out.

Mike

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This archive was generated by hypermail 2a23 : Wed Sep 10 2003 - 14:30:24 AKDT