thirstymind.org » laptop http://www.thirstymind.org andrew watts' weblog Sat, 17 Oct 2009 22:11:16 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 en hourly 1 A Laptop Security System http://www.thirstymind.org/2008/11/24/a-laptop-security-syste/ http://www.thirstymind.org/2008/11/24/a-laptop-security-syste/#comments Mon, 24 Nov 2008 21:28:27 +0000 Andrew Watts http://www.thirstymind.org/?p=423 Not sure why, but I’ve found myself thinking about securing a laptop in a public place. And I don’t know, using a cable seems… uh tacky and more importantly not practical, especially since a small pair of cable cutters could free the laptop in an instant and be done rather discreetly with nobody noticing.

It seems like their should be a simple solution or two to this. While nothing will stop a determined thief, I would be happy with the following system:

  1. Security Software, that when enabled, monitors your laptop for triggered events:
    • motion
    • keyboard / trackpad
    • power being removed
    • lid open/close
  2. Your iPhone could be used to enable the security in the following ways
    • a UI interface that allows you to enable/disable/configure
    • proximity enable, the phone leaves the laptop’s proximity, auto enable.
  3. If an event occurs, the following things should happen
    • notify via iphone, sms and email that an event occurred
    • take a photo and send with the message
    • make obnoxious noise
  4. The software would continue to do the following until recovered
    • record ip address / hostname / service provider every time internet is accessed
    • take a photo every 2 minutes.
    • alert you with these details.
  5. 5. Provide disk encryption and other miscellaneous features…

The closest thing I have found to this is Lockdown, but there is no integration with the iPhone or SMS, and there appears to be no continued monitoring after the laptop has been stolen.

Surely something better must exist, if not it’s an opportunity for an out of work engineer.

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