AfterDawn: Tech news

Looter traced by spy software, Facebook ID

Written by James Delahunty @ 16 Aug 2011 9:04 User comments (10)

Looter traced by spy software, Facebook ID Logging into Facebook on stolen Macbook Pro is a bad idea!
Information security professional Greg Martin, who formerly worked for NASA and the FBI, had his Macbook Pro stolen in West Kensington last week. He had been staying at his girlfriend's house due to troubling occurrences near his home.

Martin had previously installed open source tracking software on the Macbook Pro (http://preyproject.com) and flagged the laptop as missing within Prey.

"Almost two weary days had gone by and I'm at dinner on a business trip in Luxembourg and I received an email which nearly knocked me out of my chair with excitement," Martin wrote on his blog. He then went back to his Hotel room and changed the frequency of reports from the stolen device to every five minutes.





"After two hours hours of watching him surf religious revelation videos, shopping for Mercedes A class on autotrader he finally popped onto facebook," Martin wrote. He went on to gather a treasure trove of information available to him, including the suspect's name, school, address, IP address, ISP, wireless ssid and Facebook profile. He took the information, along with snapshots from the webcam, to the Metropolitan Police.

Upon receiving the information, Met Police raided the home of 18 year old Soheil Khalilfar (pictured), and charged him with handling stolen goods. He will appear in court this Friday.

Tags: Facebook
Previous Next  

10 user comments

116.8.2011 09:13

what a noob

216.8.2011 10:28

at least wipe it first....jeez n00b

316.8.2011 10:53

I hope they hang that edited by ddp. He deserves everything thrown at him.

This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 16 Aug 2011 @ 9:19

416.8.2011 14:36

Hasn't this been posted before by Andre a couple months back the fella's face seems awfully familiar, meh he ain't the first person nabbed the best two was a dude going on xbox live on the stolen box with the stolen account & the other had his face plastered on you tube,naturally both are caught

516.8.2011 21:20

hearme0, post edited.

617.8.2011 03:25

This is excellent. I usually hate Apple but this is one piece of software that I'm really impressed by. All electronic goods should have this.

717.8.2011 04:54

Originally posted by Dragon3000:
This is excellent. I usually hate Apple but this is one piece of software that I'm really impressed by. All electronic goods should have this.
its good that you can track your own computer if its stolen but the downside is if he can track it then other people may be able to.bad enough facebook has a check in service.if i wanted to rob a house and make sure no one was home all i'd have to do is check the news feed (on fb) for someone whos checked in somewhere and bang theres no one at there house,lucky im not a theif.if you could track a computer then bang hes using his computer at ***** i might rob his house since hes not there.think you can see my point.

817.8.2011 15:00

Came across a free tracking software yesterday called prey,it's open source & requires a free account it can be used on all OS's & some cell phones,it apparently stays dormant until you login to the account & activate it that it's stolen,as soon as some dumbass goes online "BAM" you got him including gps cordinates & picture etc..hahaha..looks like you may even be able to lock the comp down or at least some folders ?

http://preyproject.com/

This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 17 Aug 2011 @ 3:03

920.8.2011 17:32

Originally posted by scorpNZ:
Came across a free tracking software yesterday called prey,it's open source & requires a free account it can be used on all OS's & some cell phones,it apparently stays dormant until you login to the account & activate it that it's stolen,as soon as some dumbass goes online "BAM" you got him including gps cordinates & picture etc..hahaha..looks like you may even be able to lock the comp down or at least some folders ?

http://preyproject.com/
Did you even read the story? Because that's what it's about.

1021.8.2011 21:29

theres nothing impressive about a mac or the software. its the NOOB that we should all be impressed. he should be SHOT!! .. lol.

Comments have been disabled for this article.

Latest news

VLC hits milestone: over 5 billion downloads VLC hits milestone: over 5 billion downloads (16 Mar 2024 4:31)
VLC Media Player, the versatile video-software powerhouse, has achieved a remarkable feat: it has been downloaded over 5 billion times.
1 user comment
Sideloading apps to Android gets easier, as Google settles its lawsuit Sideloading apps to Android gets easier, as Google settles its lawsuit (19 Dec 2023 11:09)
Google settled its lawsuit in September 2023, and one of the settlement terms was that the way applications are installed on Android from outside the Google Play Store must become simpler. In the future, installing APK files will be easier.
8 user comments
Roomba Combo j7+ review - Clever trick allows robot vacuum finally to tackle home with rugs and carpets Roomba Combo j7+ review - Clever trick allows robot vacuum finally to tackle home with rugs and carpets (06 Jun 2023 9:19)
Roomba Combo j7+ is the very first Roomba model to combine robot vacuum with mopping features. And Roomba Combo j7+ does all that with a very clever trick, which tackles the problem with mopping and carpets. But is it any good? We found out.
Neato, the robot vacuum company, ends its operations Neato, the robot vacuum company, ends its operations (02 May 2023 3:38)
Neato Robotics has ceased its operations. American robot vacuum pioneer founded in 2005 has finally called it quits and company will cease its operations and sales. Only a skeleton crew will remain who will keep the servers running until 2028.
5 user comments
How to Send Messages to Yourself on WhatsApp How to Send Messages to Yourself on WhatsApp (20 Mar 2023 1:25)
The world's most popular messaging platform, Meta-owned WhatsApp has enabled sending messages to yourself. While at first, this might seem like an odd feature, it can be very useful in a lot of situations. ....
18 user comments

News archive