Protect your tech
FEATURE
which allows a security cable to be
attached, and that folds away when not
in use. It costs from £38.ALARMS
The first type of alarm we’ll look at, the
Lock Alarm Mini (www.lockalarm.
com) at £25, serves a dual purpose in
also providing physical protection. Like
security cables, this product also
incorporates a steel wire that is fitted to
any type of product that has some sort
of loop through which it could be
threaded. For a laptop, you also need an
adaptor which allows it to be fitted into
a Kensington lock slot. The wire is
much thinner than Kensington-type
security cables but it probably won’t
succumb to small wire-cutters and, in
addition, its small diameter allows it to
be retracted into the body of the unit
when not in use. Where it differs from a
plain security cable is that a 100dB
alarm will sound if the cable is cut. A
movement sensor can also be activated.
The next type of alarm, and one that
is becoming increasingly popular, is the
proximity alarm. These generally take
the form of a Bluetooth-enabled tag
that is attached to the equipment being
protected and is paired with a
smartphone. There are lots on the
market, each with slightly different
features, and although this isn’t a
comparative review, we will indicate
what to look for and approximately
how much you can expect to pay. First,
it’s important to recognise that the tags
tend to be in the region of 35mm across
and cannot easily be attached to aPREY: TR ACKING SOFTWARE
Prey doesn’t stop your mobile device being
stolen, but it does make it more likely you’ll
be able to get it back if it is taken from you.
It takes the form of software that you install
that runs in the background. If your device
is stolen, you report it as stolen on the Prey
website and, from then on, whenever it’s
switched on you’ll receive reports containing
an IP address and a location based on nearby
Wi-Fi signals. If the device has a camera you’ll
get photos of whoever’s using it, and you’ll
also receive screenshots – which might be
useful as they could show, for example, the
culprit’s Facebook page. Armed with this, you
could approach the police, who might be able
to recover your device. The Pro version also
allows you to remotely delete files. Prey is
open source and the standard version is free.
It is available for most operating systems
from http://www.preyproject.com.laptop. They’re frequently shown
hanging from keyrings but they could
readily be attached to a laptop case or
hidden in one of its pockets. To truly be
called a proximity alarm, an audible
alarm should sound if the phone and
the tag are separated by more than
some preset distance. Not all tags offer
this useful feature, perhaps because it’s
tricky to gauge distance from Bluetooth
signal strength.
What they do all offer, however, is a
means of manually triggering an alarm
on the tag from the paired phone if the
tag is still within Bluetooth range – up
to several tens of metres, depending on
the device and whether there are walls
between the tag and the phone. This
helps you to track down the tag and
might cause a thief to abandon it if it
truly has been stolen. Many also have a
crowd-finding facility which, even
without people’s active participation,
employs the user community to help
find a device if it’s out of Bluetooth
range. In reality, this isn’t going to be
much use unless you’re in a densely
populated area and you’ve chosen one
of the most popular brands.
These products are equally effective
against accidental loss as against theft,
and to help you here, most associated
apps will allow you to see, on a map,
where your tag was last detected. Tags
cost from about £20, but some have
batteries that cannot be recharged or
replaced so you have to buy a new tag- often at a reduced price, fortunately
- after the year or so it takes for the
battery to run down. The product
family that is probably the market
leader is Tile (www.thetileapp.com)
although, as yet, it doesn’t feature a true
proximity alarm. The PebbleBee Honey
(www.pebblebee.com) is one that does
offer a proximity alarm, also known as
geofence, functionality.
The other main type of alarm that’s
relevant to laptops is the purely
software version. These are really only
effective against opportunistic theft and
will sound if, for example, the mains
power supply or a mouse is unplugged
from an unattended laptop.
Unfortunately, pretty much all of these
alarms only work on Windows and,
while a few free packages are still
available for download, most
commercial products have been
discontinued. However, for those
proficient in coding, a DIY solution
could be a possibility.MARKING PRODUCTS
Products for marking equipment serve
two quite distinct purposes. First, they
improve the likelihood of your
equipment being returned to you if it’s
stolen and subsequently recovered by
the police. Second, because possession
of marked equipment could be
discriminating, it makes your laptop or
other equipment a much less attractive
target to a potential thief. Two
categories of product achieve these two
important functions.
The first category allows you to mark
a product in a way that is highly visible
and difficult to remove. One type
comprises stencils, prepared with eitherBelow: Prey
provides you
with reports,
including
information
about the
location of
missing
devicesQUICK GUIDEMOST LAPTOPS HAVE A SO-CALLED
KENSINGTON LOCK SLOT THAT IS USED
TO SECURE THEM WITH A CABLE