Control your laptop after it’s been stolen
In 2002, over 600,000 laptops were stolen in the US - an estimated $720 million in losses. An $5.4 billion in theft of proprietary information has been estimated due to these thefts (Safeware Insurance, 2006)
The chances that your laptop will be stolen this year are 1 in 10 (Gartner Group, 2002). 97% of stolen computers are never recovered (FBI, 2004).
Aren’t there other programs that do this?
Yes, there are. But they don’t do what WhoStoleMyPC can do. They simply report the laptop’s IP address to a central server. This information is passed onto the authorities, who can then use this information to locate the stolen machine. There are several problems with this system, however:
- Anonymous IP Addressing Do a Google search
on
anonymous IP address
and see how easy it is to hide your IP address. - WiFi is Everywhere Coffee shops, libraries, colleges. They all have WiFi, and it’s often free.
- What if the thief doesn’t use the Internet? If the PC isn’t allowed to call home, it can never tell you where it is.
Like it’s competition, WhoStoleMyPC also traces IP addresses. But it also offers something the others don’t: control over your PC after it’s been stolen.
Why is this Important?
What do you think will be the first thing to come to mind when you’ve discovered your laptop has been stolen? It won’t be that you’re out a $2000 laptop. It’ll be that you’ve lost data that existed only on that machine. Or worse, that the data is in a crook’s hands. He’s just taken your laptop, now he’s going for your identity.