Operation Gringo Revenge: Tracking My Stolen Laptop In Panama

[fabian]

This is one of our best stories of all time. Matt got his laptop stolen while abroad, and thanks to the Prey reports he managed to get it back.

Three months ago my Macbook Pro laptop computer was stolen in Panama. Join me as I attempt to recover it from over 2000 miles away.

Before my computer was stolen, I’d installed a special tracking program called Prey Project. I first learned about Prey after following Sean Power’s amazing laptop recovery story on Twitter — downloading the free tracking software that same day.

When my own laptop was taken while traveling through Panama in October 2011, I quickly activated Prey from an internet cafe, hoping I could catch the thieves. I also filed a police report with Panamanian authorities.

Now I would just wait for the software to start working its magic.

But it never did. After over 3 months of no action, I assumed the thieves had disabled or replaced my computer’s hard drive before turning it on. With no tracking information, my computer would be lost forever.

That all changed last night.

You can read the full story here.

[carlos]

This one is on my top 3: http://www.crn.com/blogs-op-ed/security/300076767/dont-fake-it-when-it-comes-to-securing-sensitive-data-on-mobile-devices.htm

Incredible!!!