I came across this interesting little program that might act as a last resort if your laptop gets stolen. While it is certainly no substitute for full disk encryption, which is what you should really be using to protect your data, I recognize that there are some situations where you cannot use full disk encryption. Like say when your employer refuses to allow you to install something on their hardware that would prevent them from accessing the data thereon. If that’s the case then while you are attempting to drag them into the 21st century you should give Prey a shot.
Prey helps you find your stolen laptop by sending timed reports to your email with a bunch of information of its whereabouts. This includes the general status of the computer, a list of running programs and active connections, fully-detailed network and wifi information, a screenshot of the running desktop and — in case your laptop has an integrated webcam — a picture of the thief.Prey can use a web URL to check if it should generate and send the report, so you have a way of alerting remotely the program whenever your laptop disappears. It can (and should) be run as root so it doesn’t depend on an active user session to run, but only on a succesful boot.
You may be thinking “but what’s the point of this program if the guy will probably just format the thing right away?” and you’re completely right. However, experience shows that thieves tend to look in stolen computers for valuable information, so there’s actually a chance you can catch the guy (and there’s even some succesful cases!).
The best part about Prey is that it runs on Mac OS/X, Linux and Windows, is Open Source licensed under GNU Public Licence v3.0 and is completely free. As in free speech and free beer. So it won’t cost you a thing to try it out.
But as I mentioned before, if it’s portable it should be encrypted. Period. If your employer is balking turn them on to TrueCrypt, another open source and free multi-platform software package. If they insist on paying then they can get PGP Desktop. In the meantime use something like Prey.
