www.break.com/index/stolenlaptop.html

I thought this video was worth posting.  I almost (I repeat, ALMOST) feel sorry for the student.

Federal-pound-me-in-the-ass prison.

Its a good bluff. Curious to know if it worked....

Someone nabbed my TI-89 Titanium and I never got it back.  
I knew I should have called the Feds.

Old but funny. I guess the professor forgot to put a password on the computer or did not logout.

Quoted: Gee, all this classified and important info and the asshat professor can't secure it? What the fuck was the idiot doing. Sounds like a self-important petulant child trying to threaten because his ice cream cone got stolen. Prof is full of shit across the board. And if he is not, then he should never be given access to sensitive information again.

That's what I was thinking.  

Quoted: Its a good bluff. Curious to know if it worked....

What makes you think its a bluff?  Just curious

Haha...nice bluff.

The question is...is the laptop's "transponder" squawking 7500?

Quoted: Its a good bluff. Curious to know if it worked....

not even a good bluff

a self important windbag unhappy because he was too stupid too secure his laptop properly

Quoted: Its a good bluff. Curious to know if it worked....

+1
If they knew who the guy was and he had what the prof said he would already be in jail.

Sounds like he telling everyone in the class that the next time they steel a computer they should copy the data off it and reformat it. Is it a good idea to tell people how they can be tracked with stolen goods.

Second, it sounds like the thief could now hide the computer and blackmail the teacher to get it back. The thief now nows how valuable the data is.

If I had access to that type of information, I sure as hell wouldnt have it on a laptop that I stored exams on.  The windows thing seems a but funny to me.  Transponders in laptops, I think not.  I suppose you might be able to triangulate the position off the wireless card, if you knew the exact frequency and could ID the signal.  If they had 2 eye-witnesses, why didnt they just go arrest him?Now that I take a critical look at this, I can see the bluffs.  However, if the stuff he was spouting were true, damn! talk about P0WN3D

He's full of it!! That's nothing but hot air!!  If he had critical data then he had a power on password, a hard drive password, a windows password, and his critical data was encypted. This is not a fail saft but it's a start. If he did all that he would not be winding like a baby....

The Federal agencys could care less about a stolen laptop. If they caught the person the only action they could do would be at the school level. Our court system does not care, and does not know about cyber crime. Hell you kill a person in this country and they do nothing why would they care about some Asshat's laptop.....    

The professor was completely bluffing, and it wasn't even a good bluff

The professor was bluffing and admitted so later.  He never got the laptop back

blastradius.blogspot.com/2005/04/world-of-pain.html

Not only a poor bluf, but a pretty good way to make sure he's never hired as a consultant EVER again.

Berkley.... guy's probably as liberal as hell.

SO, I must say:

HA HA!

we had a professor get fired/arrested for stealing computers.

eta: he consults with Microsoft - that's the only way they would bother to track him down.

eta2: he's bluffing and full of crap.  trying to scare the theif into confessing.

There are several software programs that can report their location if the machine is stolen when the machine is run. Computrace is one of them.

A simple format will not get rid of the software.

You could tell the professor was full of it when his very first statement was "within 15 I installed windows and people in Redmond Washington very interested to know why it was the same version of windows was being signaled to them from 2 different computers."  Any college kid that knew anything about computers would know it takes longer than 15 minutes to install windows and that a computer doesn't "signal" Microsoft everytime it is turned.

Now days there are such things as transponders for computers that use a GPS to track the exact location.  But if the professor had that then there would be no reason for him to be threatening the whole class.

Quoted: Quoted: Its a good bluff. Curious to know if it worked.... What makes you think its a bluff?  Just curious

Those who can, do.  Those who can't, teach.

Any other questions?

a lowlevel reformat will though also possibly replacing the hdd as a last resort effort would work in a pinch as well

/me hides back in the shadows

Quoted: Its a good bluff. Curious to know if it worked....

Yep, smells like BS to me too Perfesser...

Edited to add: When a similar incident occurred at the university I attended (back when computers were programmed with punch cards and dinosaurs roamed the earth) the piece of equipment stolen was said to have been used in some obscure laboratory and was infected with some sort of biological organism that would make your pecker fall off. That was bullshit too...

It was collossally stupid of this proferssor to spew such a line of BS. When it came out to be false, he ended up looking like a total fool.
-------
I never heard of any regular laptops that had "transponders" in them, just for this purpose. I'm sure that gov'ts and militaries have them, but never heard of them for regular laptops.

You can get programs called "tracking software" which after some period of time without some secret key-combo will assume the laptop has been stolen, and they will relay IP info over any interenet connection that the computer gets on. They send that data to a pre-set IP or email acount. Some evel allow you to "log on" to the system remotely (if it is connected over a intenet connection) and do what you will--wipe sensitive files, permanently disable the OS, ect.

The program is hidden in the OS in such a way that it's difficult to discover normally, but it is just a program; its success depends on the thief using the stolen PC to get online before wiping the hard-drive. WHich a lot end up doing, becuase they don't often have install CD"s, and if they wipe the hard drive right away, then they can't sell the laptop for as much because they've got no immediate way to prove that it works completely.
~

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Its a good bluff. Curious to know if it worked.... What makes you think its a bluff?  Just curious Those who can, do.  Those who can't, teach. Any other questions?

Those who can't teach, teach gym ;)

I would say that kid is in deep shit.

pretty ghey

Typical pompous self-important dumbass college professor.

Quoted: Gee, all this classified and important info and the asshat professor can't secure it? What the fuck was the idiot doing. Sounds like a self-important petulant child trying to threaten because his ice cream cone got stolen. Prof is full of shit across the board. And if he is not, then he should never be given access to sensitive information again.

Yeah, the prof is talking big, but the truth is he is probably in a lot of trouble for leaving the data unsecured.  At this point, he is like a cop who had someone steal a gun out of his holster and get away.  

Anyone that had ever used a computer or even had a basic idea of how they worked wouldn't believe this for a second.

Even my grandma calls BS on the speech.

Waaaaaaaaaaaaah, Waaaaaaaaaaaah, Waaaaaaaaah!!!!!!!!! F'ing crybaby. I hate it when somebody in a position of authority uses these tactics. I'll bet his dirt hippie commie kid on drugs stole his old mans computer to buy more drugs. Asshole...both of em.

I kept waiting for some idiot to hold his hand and say, "So your saying I need to re-format the drive?" Most of the students in his class probably know more about what he was babbling than he does. The first one was a pretty good bluff but the last two were such obvious bullshit it isn't even funny. The part about the pre-IPO data was the real red herring. Surprised students didn't start coughing after that one.  

Quoted: Quoted: Gee, all this classified and important info and the asshat professor can't secure it? What the fuck was the idiot doing. Sounds like a self-important petulant child trying to threaten because his ice cream cone got stolen. Prof is full of shit across the board. And if he is not, then he should never be given access to sensitive information again. Yeah, the prof is talking big, but the truth is he is probably in a lot of trouble for leaving the data unsecured.  At this point, he is like a cop who had someone steal a gun out of his holster and get away.

The part about classified info was probably bullshit too. Probably all of his porn was on it

He just told the thief 3 ways how not to get caught.  I wouldn't call "owned" until the thief is busted.

Quoted: Gee, all this classified and important info and the asshat professor can't secure it? What the fuck was the idiot doing. Sounds like a self-important petulant child trying to threaten because his ice cream cone got stolen. Prof is full of shit across the board. And if he is not, then he should never be given access to sensitive information again.

+1.  I think he was completely full of shit on all accounts.

Blake

Ha ha. He got his laptop stolen because he was a fucking idiot, as evidenced by his wasting students' time with that diatrabe of self-aggrandization.

If he wanted to blow smoke up my ass, he should've bought me a drink first.

Well, there are a few things that I have problems with:

Getting Physical access to the machine pretty much guarantees complete access if the data is unencrypted on the hard disk. My best time cracking the administrator password for a machine is 15 seconds: though I must admit the password was ridiculously simple (the UserID the guy used was "Rick" So I used Richard for the Admin password and viola, instant 0wn@g3. If I don't know what the password is I just use a BartPE disk and have my way with the system. (Important to note people: nowadays it is VERY important to password protect your BIOS and disable Booting from Floppies, CDs and USB Devices because  of these types of security risks. If you're worried about someone resetting your CMOS and getting in then you might want to think about strategies for securing the computer case itself...like using Tamper-resistant fasteners for  the case screws and restraints to keep the CPU from being removed from the desk, etc...)    

Yes, the MAC of the Wireless card is broadcast whenever the machine tries to get onto the network, but that is not enough to "track" it...you would have start at the Router, the Switches to locate the Access point it is connecting through. Access points generally have excellent range characteristics: this gives you an approximation of where the unit actually is within a roughly 100 meter radius: good enough for a Nuke, but not good enough for even a Daisy Cutter. The MAC address which is broadcast can be changed by simply going into the Device Manager and entering a new MAC address and rebooting. This does not actually change the embedded MAC, but instead has the OS substitute a different MAC address for the Physical Address.

Transponder? Um, no.

There are a couple of High-security laptops which have the OPTION of a sort of a tracker (it's a network tracker), but those are expensive and generally not available to non-corporate or non-governmental agencies.

Why would Microsoft know anything about a Windows Installation which, in all likelihood, used a different Product ID Key to install Windows. Who said they ever installed Windows on the unit?

Short version: this guy was 00wned.

The Prof was careless and is trying to cover his ass.

Strong Encryption exists, along with procedures to protect keys and handling sensitive information.
If what the Prof is saying is true (about the information) then he is screwed. Nothing like a Data Spill to screw up one's career.

Well its pretty new, but they are now offering a "Lo-jack" option on new systems. Must be factory installed.

The smartest part of the guy's speech was the part about how he would be out of town the next week and unavailable that afternoon so the thief had to return it immediately if he wanted any leniency.  I thought that part was nice since it may have prompted the thief to do something rash rather than just thinking he could put-off the decision until later.z

Quoted: Haha...nice bluff. The question is...is the laptop's "transponder" squawking 7500?

Actually before you go trashing that transponder talk.. there are GPS location chis built into a couple IBM laptops that report where the laptop is, if it is stolen.  So... if it is one of those he's fucked.

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Its a good bluff. Curious to know if it worked.... What makes you think its a bluff?  Just curious Those who can, do.  Those who can't, teach. Any other questions?

OUCH!!!!  Coming from a professional educator.   Sounds like the person who stole the computer knows more about them than the prof does!

By the way, what is up with you guys bashing ALL teachers.  I am a former teacher now in administration and own many firearms including a DPMS AR!

Quoted: Gee, all this classified and important info and the asshat professor can't secure it? What the fuck was the idiot doing. Sounds like a self-important petulant child trying to threaten because his ice cream cone got stolen. Prof is full of shit across the board. And if he is not, then he should never be given access to sensitive information again.

+1

Sounds like he should be fired for not properly safeguarding sensitive data.

Professor laying the smackdown on a computer theif?!?!?!?!?!?!??????

More like "The professor stepping on his own dick!!"

What a tool...

Quoted: Professor laying the smackdown on a computer theif?!?!?!?!?!?!?????? More like "The professor stepping on his own dick!!" What a tool...

+1

Quoted: Quoted: Gee, all this classified and important info and the asshat professor can't secure it? What the fuck was the idiot doing. Sounds like a self-important petulant child trying to threaten because his ice cream cone got stolen. Prof is full of shit across the board. And if he is not, then he should never be given access to sensitive information again. +1 Sounds like he should be fired for not properly safeguarding sensitive data.

This happened months ago. Why does he still have a job?