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Thieves are going to have to get a whole lot smarter as technology starts to catch up
Computer thieves are about to get their comeuppance if a story out of the United States is anything to go by.
According to the report, a man in the US got a couple of computers stolen, including his Apple Mac. Being a fan of the brand, the man “Jim” apparently went out and bought another Mac (with the insurance money one presumes). However, Jim had done a pretty smart thing – he had backed up his files on a Time Machine drive, and restored them to his new computer, including a little program called Mobile Me.
He opened up MobileMe and saw that one of the stolen computers was listed as being synced to the new MacBook. He then enabled the screen-sharing function of his current Mac as was able to watch as the person who now had his stolen computer, surfed the net. Now, here’s where Jim got smart. Mobile me would have given him the right to take control fo the computer, but he didn’t. When the stolen computer was on standby, he sneaked in and got the IP addy of the new ‘owner’.
The next day Jim eyed the person applying for a job, which gave Jim immediate access to the person’s social security number, address and phone number. Now it’s in the hands of the police. Of course the person could be the thief, or somebody who was duped into buying a ‘second-hand’ computer, but at the end of the day, chalk this up as a win to the good guys.
