Swad Posted March 1, 2006 Share Posted March 1, 2006 Came across this link and thought it was interesting and possibly useful for some folks! "I set up a periodic that checks for a file on my webserver called youve_been_stolen. My PowerBook's periodic gets that URL and, if found, runs a script that runs rm -rf against a smattering of directories and pops an AppleScript informing the new "owner" that they are using stolen hardware." http://www.macgeekery.com/gspot/2006-02/re...ruction_of_data Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/10617-remotely-protect-your-mac/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
domino Posted March 1, 2006 Share Posted March 1, 2006 If this happens, they would have to be the dumbest thieves I have ever known. I don't know how they conceived a way to acquire a notebook in the first place. I mean, come on now.. Why would one connect straight to the internet after stealing a notebook? How about extract the data, format, reinstall?? On the serious side, you could shoot yourself if the foot. What if a family member needed your unit in an emergency and decided to take it home to work on his or her thesis not know what security the notebook has? One of many other scenario that can go wrong with this "security" feature. edit: One thing that I am worried about is, if one day a "dev" gets pissed off at the word, writes an application with this script hidden in it Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/10617-remotely-protect-your-mac/#findComment-66524 Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaiOSX Posted March 1, 2006 Share Posted March 1, 2006 The best way to lock your mac (PPC for instance) is to set a firmware password, which will prevent access to boot with an external firewire harddisk or CD/DVD, also the Single user boot and the openfirmware access will be deactivated. Do not activate the Autologin. At least you will prevent people to boot with another harddisk or DVD, the machine will be useless. If you are paranoid you can also activate Filevault (in security pref pane) to prevent people to plug your harddisk to another computer and being able to read your filevault's "user folder" encrypted dmg file. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/10617-remotely-protect-your-mac/#findComment-66527 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swad Posted March 1, 2006 Author Share Posted March 1, 2006 I would imagine that the casual thief would probably not think twice about hooking it up to the internet. But yeah, if they're pros, you're pretty much screwed without a commercial solution. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/10617-remotely-protect-your-mac/#findComment-66547 Share on other sites More sharing options...
shrapnull Posted July 11, 2006 Share Posted July 11, 2006 I think the only sure way to keep your data safe is to use file vault. I mean, firmware passwords can be cleared by changing the amount of RAM and resetting the PRAM, so even that doesn't do much. Luckily, I don't think its very practical yet for any thief to crack the AES encryption But your script would me most useful (I have something like it on my book, which is so old its probably not worth stealing) in a school setting where the thief is less likely to know what they are doing. I have even heard success stories about people getting their comp stolen at school, and having phone-home software help to find it Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/10617-remotely-protect-your-mac/#findComment-143246 Share on other sites More sharing options...
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