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Why you don't steal from a hacker.

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Re: Why you don't steal from a hacker.

#161

Post by shabble »

gst wrote: post #150
LogicX wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

... why not do exactly that; but ALSO have a guest account, and prey installed. (Also re: not instantly formatting; put firmware and/or hard drive passwords on to slow them down -- most thieves are not computer experts) I think you under-estimate the speed and hassle of dealing with insurance. Also most insurance has a deductible. You're still out typically hundreds of dollars. I had a macbook pro of one of our emplo…

If you have a guest account you can't encrypt your whole harddisk. And if my laptop gets stolen I don't care about the money but about my data falling into the wrong hands.

Set up a honeypot account 'm[ou]m', with a visible password hint to the tune of 'Dammit m[ou]m, THE PASSWORD IS "Susan"'.

Make sure it has no access to the filesystem outside of its homedir, and you could even set some login items to watch for net access and push a notification.

Re: Why you don't steal from a hacker.

#162

Post by satiani »

giberson wrote: post #39

Glad the person got their Mac back, but why does this story and ones like it always end at the recovery of the property? Could we get an update on the punishment of the criminal? I'd like to know what kind of repercussions the criminals suffer--do they get prosecuted? I'm just curious if these software tracking systems have been used in court as evidence to convict any of these criminals.

I don't think there is a need to use the tracking software to build a case against the burglar. They caught him with stolen property and have fingerprints. No need to go high-tech here.

Re: Why you don't steal from a hacker.

#163

Post by gst »

shabble wrote: post #161
gst wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you have a guest account you can't encrypt your whole harddisk. And if my laptop gets stolen I don't care about the money but about my data falling into the wrong hands.

Set up a honeypot account 'm[ou]m', with a visible password hint to the tune of 'Dammit m[ou]m, THE PASSWORD IS "Susan"'. Make sure it has no access to the filesystem outside of its homedir, and you could even set some login items to watch for net access and push a notification.

The honeypot account still needs access to the operating system, and thus to the harddisk password if you use full-disk encryption.

Full disk encryption is more or less default for most Linux distributions and OS X Lion. In addition, it's the only sane solution if you want to securely encrypt your data.

Re: Why you don't steal from a hacker.

#164

Post by fullmoon »

jff wrote: post #53
rajpaul wrote: post #34

"took a report and dusted for prints, performed typical forensics" I'm impressed that the police dust for prints in England. I've never heard of someone getting that kind of thoroughness for a domestic burglary where I live.

When my house was burgled, the cops sent out 3 cars, did a thorough inspection, took inventory of what had been stolen, and dusted for prints in places we indicated were likely to have been touched (the windowframe where they came in, some doorknobs, and the box fan they had moved). This was in Rochester's 19th Ward (New York), possibly the most dangerous and high-crime part of town. As far as I know, they never caug…

Can confirm of similarly good service in Vienna, Austria;

Thorough investigation, dusted for prints, and even took sample of nondescript, possibly bodily fluid (turned out to be non-organic).

Very professional; Though wouldn't get burglarised again.

Re: Why you don't steal from a hacker.

#165

Post by jff »

Legion wrote: post #141
jff wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's highly desirable to be called a genius, but in general people calling themselves geniuses are looked down upon. I think among people who do use the word "hacker" to mean someone skilled with computers, it's considered poor form to call yourself a hacker but high praise to be named a hacker. Eric Raymond wrote long screeds about this way back in the 90s when people still gave a damn about him. Personally, I call…

But is "hacker" really analogous to "genius"? I mean, we have a bunch of annual hacker conferences. If "hacker" isn't something you can call yourself, who is going to all of these things?

Joke answer: Have you ever been to Def Con? People who wear utilikilts and dyed mohawks unironically probably have no qualms about calling themselves hackers, deservedly or un-.

Real answer: I did actually attend Def Con this year, with the intent of learning about hacking, possibly from hackers. I wouldn't call myself a hacker, I just went because I wanted to learn about the subject. Really the whole topic is not something I worry much about... in my line of work we don't compliment people by saying "he's a good hacker", we just say "he's brilliant" or "she does really great work", which to my mind is a better and less ambiguous compliment.

Re: Why you don't steal from a hacker.

#166

Post by tingletech »

tingletech wrote: post #129
jrockway wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a parody of an old TV show called "Dragnet". Each episode ended with a dramatic narrator reading something 99.9% similar to the comment you replied to. Same fixed format, everything. Kids these days :) :)

still a burglary is when stuff is stolen when no one is there (as in the fine article). A robbery is when something is stolen from your person (like you are help up at gun point for you wallet).

http://www.sussex.police.uk/advice-and-support/victim-and-wi...
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