Undercover: Mac anti-theft software

Afriend of mine sent me a link to a new piece of security/Mac-tracking software called Undercover. E entially, this software ru in the background on your Mac andperiodically pings an Undercover Recovery Center. In the event of a stolen Mac, you can contact the center and they cankick the software into gear, collecting IP information and, interestingly, scree hots of what's ha ening on yourstolen Mac. The idea is that if the thief is actually using his undeserved new prize, he could, sooner or later, giveaway details of his identity, say with a chat name or checking email. If this %26quot lan A" fails, the UndercoverCenter can then enact %26quot lan B," causing the Mac to act like it's experiencing hardware failure which, bytheir logic, would prompt the thief to either sell it or send it in for service. While I'm not sure how they coulddetermine the Mac has again changed hands, let alone come into the care of someone who would help, Undercover couldthen make the Mac di lay a me age stating that it has been stolen, along with contact information and the offer of aFinder's fee.

While this sounds like an ideal chain of events following the theft of your Mac, Damienbrought up a couple great points as to why this software might have a limited, if at all, rate of succe . First, thetypical computer thief might find a way to erase the stolen computer (which makes me wonder what kind of people Damienhangs out with). Second, if you're a portable notebook user concerned about security and theft, you probably don't walkaway from the book while logged in, and (hopefully) you don't set your book to automatically log in anyway. As far as Iunderstand how this software works, both of these practices would render Undercover usele , as I'm pretty sure youneed to be logged in for the software to work its magic.

Ultimately, you should probably check out more ofUndercover's abilities and i er workings before jumping on it. Orbicule, the makers of Undercover, offer a customerservice/sales online chat option if you'd like to talk to them more about it. At the end of the day, it's at least niceto see some new thinking (even if it might not be fool-proof) in terms of portable computer security.