So our laptop was stolen...

[ceciledian]

Actually it was my husband's MacBook. He left it under the back seat of his truck and forgot it was there when he brought it to the dealer for service. It was there for three days and so far they have not come up with anything. But not their fault as it should not have been left in the vehicle. Anyway, he filed a police report, has changed all passwords we could think of for banks, investment, credit, Amazon, eBay, etc. He was able to lock the laptop remotely with Find my Mac, and if anyone tries to connect it to the internet it will ping the location back to him and lock out the perp.

Given that, does this group wisdom have any other suggestions on any protective measures we may have missed?

 

[braumeister]

I would expect it to be very unlikely to ever get it back. So I would not just lock it but actually erase it, which you can also do with Find My Mac. You do have a backup, don't you?

 

[Sunset]

Was the hard drive encrypted ?

If it was not, then someone can pull the drive out and read it using another computer, so whatever is on there, like letters, photos, tax returns, old emails, etc could be read.

 

[Ronstar]

Doesn't findmymac say where it is?

 

[Sunset]

Just because he left it in the vehicle, doesn't mean it was not the dealer employee's fault. That is likely the person who stole it, since you would think they should lock cars in their possession when parking them on the lot.

I do empty my vehicle of stuff I figure the employees might steal, as I recall seeing a video of a dealer worker (mechanic?) stealing quarters out of a man's truck that was in for work.

 

[Bamaman]

I just had a bunch of stuff stolen from my other house where my daughter lived. Right before I sold it, druggies sto!e my Honda Foreman 500, a computer, XBOX and a 55/inch television. Over the last three years, you wouldn't believe the computers, games and televisions that were stolen over there. The worse thing stolen was a $3k custom built racing bicycle.

I finally made a loss claim and was paid a depreciated amount since I wasn't going to replace the items.

Thenmmy daughter was in our basement the other day and some "friend" she let in walked off with my Dell laptop, a Fire 8 tablet and a high line Mac laptop of some kind. I am not going to make a theft claim, however.

I keep no information on computers in my house anyone can get to. All the financial info and important stuff is on a Dell laptop that is not online very often and I keep it locked in a big stand-up safe.

 

[Souschef]

Then my daughter was in our basement the other day and some "friend" she let in walked off with my Dell laptop, a Fire 8 tablet and a high line Mac laptop of some kind. I am not going to make a theft claim, however.
.

Are you not going to file a police report and nail the "friend" who stole all that stuff??

 

[aja8888]

Thenmmy daughter was in our basement the other day and some "friend" she let in walked off with my Dell laptop, a Fire 8 tablet and a high line Mac laptop of some kind. I am not going to make a theft claim, however.

I keep no information on computers in my house anyone can get to. All the financial info and important stuff is on a Dell laptop that is not online very often and I keep it locked in a big stand-up safe.

I'll wager all that stuff went to a pawn shop.

 

[walkinwood]

I have installed a free encryption program called veracrypt on my desktop. It allows me to create an encrypted volume (drive) where I store all our sensitive documents. Once the password is entered, the drive acts like any other. But it needs to be re-entered every time the system is rebooted. I believe that this keeps our documents safe if the computer is stolen.

There are no sensitive docs on my notebook computer since I travel with it. Docs like copies of our passports etc are all stored online.

 

[braumeister]

My entire hard drive is encrypted and has been for years. It's a standard feature of the Mac OS called FileVault.

 

[Sunset]

My entire hard drive is encrypted and has been for years. It's a standard feature of the Mac OS called FileVault.

Same here, but I use Ubuntu and it is a standard feature.

I wish Windows Home had it as standard, but no, so I'm interested in getting DW onto Ubuntu.

 

[SakeShiraz]

Also UndercoverHQ for Macs

Some good advice here. Mac users, make sure to turn on Filevault encryption under System Preferences > Security.

Next, spend a few bucks (50 for 1 Mac, $60 for the whole family) on UndercoverHQ by Orbicule. These guys make the best security software.

My MacBook was stolen. I had UndercoverHQ on it. Used the wife's computer to turn on UndercoverHQ on the stolen Mac. It takes pictures with the MacBook camera, as well as screen shots. We saw the what the guy looked like, and that he was trying to get into my password manager. Also, it recorded his IP address. I told Chicago PD I had the guy's IP address, they had no interest.
Then the CEO of Orbicule wrote a personal note to the detective about how to get a court order to make Comcast give him the physical address associated with the IP address. Long story short, I got my MacBook back, as well as a multi-thousand $ bicycle. And because of the pictures the software took, that A****le is doing 2-5 in the state pen.

 

[JoeWras]

Just because he left it in the vehicle, doesn't mean it was not the dealer employee's fault. That is likely the person who stole it, since you would think they should lock cars in their possession when parking them on the lot.

I do empty my vehicle of stuff I figure the employees might steal, as I recall seeing a video of a dealer worker (mechanic?) stealing quarters out of a man's truck that was in for work.

I lost a $20 I used to keep in the glove box as an emergency. Pretty sure it was while in for service.

Get this: the weirdest thing happened to my parents. Mom and Dad found "Frampton Comes Alive" in their stash of cassettes. Meanwhile, Bobby Vinton was gone. We suspect those jokers swapped cassettes among cars! I do not trust car service people.... although I have to say I laughed a bit when mom and dad were distressed by the music.

 

[brucethebroker]

I lost a $20 I used to keep in the glove box as an emergency. Pretty sure it was while in for service.

Get this: the weirdest thing happened to my parents. Mom and Dad found "Frampton Comes Alive" in their stash of cassettes. Meanwhile, Bobby Vinton was gone. We suspect those jokers swapped cassettes among cars! I do not trust car service people.... although I have to say I laughed a bit when mom and dad were distressed by the music.

Distressed? I'd say Frampton for Vinton was a definite upgrade! (Imagine how the other victim felt!!)

 

[TrvlBug]

I lost a $20 I used to keep in the glove box as an emergency. Pretty sure it was while in for service.
... ....

Could also have been at the car park. We keep a ziploc bag full of change for parking in the car and when I went to use it, there was less than $2 in change in the bag. I usually keep about $10+ and add change to it constantly. Now I try to remember to leave it at home along with the remote and registration when we travel.