GadgetTrak Blog: Laptop Theft Recovery & Mobile Device Theft Recovery

GadgetTrak 3.0.3 Released!

IanSchray — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 16:42:55 +0000

GadgetTrak has been updated to version 3.0.3, squashing an annoying (and rare) XML formatting bug. This update is recommended for all users, and can be found on the Downloads page.

GadgetTrak 3.0.2 Released!

IanSchray — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 18:20:34 +0000

We’ve released GadgetTrak 3.0.2 today, which squashes a couple of minor bugs.

Before installing the update, remove your tracked laptop from your list at trak.me before installing (be sure to write down your license key before deleting it!).

You can get the updated installer for Mac and Windows on our Downloads page.

GadgetTrak 3

IanSchray — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 20:06:06 +0000

GadgetTrak provides the best-of-class features you’ve come to rely on:

Wi-Fi positioning By using advanced Wi-Fi positioning technology, GadgetTrak can pinpoint the location of your laptop, usually down to within a few meters.
Location notification When tracking occurs, you’ll get an email with detailed information about its current location. You can also see this on the web control panel at www.trak.me
Webcam support Part of the tracking process is to snap a photo of the thief. This is a crucial bit of evidence that the police can use to get your laptop back.

GadgetTrak 3 brings a collection of exciting new features and improvements to our award-winning solution:

Simplified client setup Eases installation, especially for workgroups.
Centralized web-based console Keep track of all of the laptops assigned to your account in one place.
Multiple device support Better support for multiple devices tracked under the same account.
Historical tracking data See where your laptop’s been, not just where it is.

For current subscribers, there is no charge to add these new features. For the remaining time on your subscription, you can use these new features, starting today. Here’s how:

To begin, log into your account at www.trak.me
Click the ”View” button next to your device and copy or write down your license key displayed on the resulting page.
After noting your license key, select “Delete” from the options on the left.
Download the newest version of the client software.
Uninstall the old software using the uninstaller included in the download.
Install the new software client.
Reboot
Open the GadgetTrak application (Mac: System Preferences. Windows: Control Panel) and enter your license key and login info.
After a short period, your tracking info should appear in the web console at www.trak.me

GadgetTrak: The ultimate protection from being “iJacked”

IanSchray — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 04:49:30 +0000

ActiveTrak CEO Ken Westin was interviewed for Untether.tv about mobile security, covering the greatest features of GadgetTrak’s mobile security products.

Check out the video:

30-Hour Day

IanSchray — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 19:17:59 +0000

All of us at GadgetTrak are proud to be partnering with 30-Hour Day, an Internet-based telethon benefitting the Oregon Food Bank, the American Red Cross (Oregon Chapters) and p:ear.

This 30-hour livestreaming telethon is hosted by Cami Kaos of Strange Love Live and Rick Turoczy of Silicon Florist.

We’ll will be donating all sales of GadgetTrak to 30-Hour Day during the telethon, so go get your copy and help support the causes!

30-Hour Day runs July 2 & 3. Don’t miss it!

Stop, Laptop Thief! — NY Times

IanSchray — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 20:06:54 +0000

Eric Taub of The New York Times has a good piece on GadgetTrak in today’s Gadgetwise Blog:

Stop, Laptop Thief!

GadgetTrak on KPAM 860 with Bob Miller

IanSchray — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 16:29:24 +0000

GadgetTrak Product Manager Ian Schray was interviewed on KPAM 860’s Bob Miller in the Morning today!

The Real Value of Your Mobile Device

IanSchray — Mon, 31 May 2010 18:26:33 +0000

Think about all of the battery-operated, data-storing devices you have… From your MacBook Pro that contains all of your financial documents and pictures of your kids to your BlackBerry with all of your contacts and calendar data, you probably rely more on mobile devices that you ever thought you would.

No, ask yourself… What if you left even one of these on an airplane or had it stolen when you got up to grab a napkin at the coffee shop?

How much is each of these devices worth? $300? $3000? $300,000 when you factor in the data? Priceless?

This blog post isn’t meant to scare you. The point is that we put a lot of faith into our devices, and we rarely put much thought into their security.

In 2008, the Ponemon Institute estimated that 12,000 notebooks were stolen from US airports every week. According to FBI statistics, only 3% of all unprotected lost or stolen computers are ever recovered. That’s 11,640 notebooks lost or stolen and never recovered each week (605,280 per year!). Statistically speaking, we’re probably all going to have a mobile device leave our possession at some point.

As consumers, we can’t do much to prevent mobile device theft. As we become more diligent, the thieves become craftier. The only real protection is to do what we can to track the device once its stolen, and report this info to the police in the hopes that they can recover it.

We created GadgetTrak with the belief that the best way to protect yourself and your devices is to somehow track them once they’ve been stolen. To that end, we’ve worked with law enforcement professionals from all over to figure out the best way to report the data they need to increase the chances that the devices are recovered. From all of this research, GadgetTrak was born.

Each time your device is tracked, it provides valuable location data. This data can then be passed along to police. And since the kind of data we report is exactly what the police need, our recovery rate is well over 95%.

Think about it… Your chances of recovering your notebook go from 3% to over 95% just by installing a relatively inexpensive monitoring application.

Pennsylvania Lower Median Park Laptop Spying Case - Our Take

IanSchray — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 05:45:23 +0000

Like many of you, we get upset when we read about things like this:

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20100415_Lawyer__Laptops_took_thousands_of_photos.html

and

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/20/us/20brfs-SCHOOLDISTRI_BRF.html

Unfortunately, the actions of a few bad folks can kill the best intentions of others who try to do the right things. This is true in many areas, including mobile device security.

The bottom line is that, if these allegations are true, someone was given access to systems they shouldn’t have. The implementation of the tracking technology is the culprit, not the technology itself.

We should point out that GadgetTrak was not the solution installed on these laptops. Our software can work in similar ways, but we specifically advise a more conservative approach to tracking. For example, we do not support the taking and sending of screenshots, as we feel that this is a violation of privacy and might even be illegal under current wiretap laws.

Unfortunately, when something like this Pennsylvania case happens, all of us who are in this market are held accountable.

We’ve actually turned down requests for organizations who wished to use GadgetTrak technology in this way. We are a rare bird in our industry are we are quite transparent about how our technology works and one of the few that actually lets people test the software out to see how it works and the data it collects. You would be shocked to learn what some other companies have access to on your systems, some use keyloggers, take screenshots etc. We believe that through transparency and allowing people to understand the technology they are in a better position to decide how and where their data goes.

Hopefully, this debate will continue and shed some positive light on a serious problem. We’d love to hear comments on this. Please email us if you would like to voice your opinion or have a question.

GadgetTrak To The Rescue

admin — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 21:50:27 +0000