If your Linux machine is lost or stolen is there anything like what Apple has?

[James_Smith]

Has anyone made anything like this this for Linux?

Thank you

[kc1di]

There is one I know of called prey it's cross platform, unfortunately they charge but do have a free option, not sure how that compares to their other products.
you can read about it here: https://www.preyproject.com/download
How to forge also has some discussions on how to track missing laptops here:
https://www.howtoforge.com/tutorial/how ... ux-laptop/
Good Luck.

[absque fenestris]

This thief security from Apple - Google has the same thing in Android - can only work if your device is continuously monitored and you allow the company to do so.

The purpose of GNU/Linux is that you just want to avoid this permanent monitoring by a company, there is just no company in the background to read your whereabouts and monitors the use of the device and can turn off in case of theft...
With this monitoring task to entrust a whatever company that can be anywhere at home I would be quite suspect. In that case I would rather stay with Apple.

[buffest_overflow]

Has anyone made anything like this this for Linux?

Thank you

Apologies for this overly long post, it's a condition of mine.

Well, first of all, to the above comments, there are many ways for all kinds of parties to "continually monitor" you if they so choose, regardless of your operating system. "There is no patch for stupid," as the saying goes. User awareness, skillset and best practices are more important than the operating system. I worry about the assumptions that people make about security almost constantly.

I guess I will try to answer the OP's question to the best of my ability.

Theft protection and "Find my Mac" stuff is really kind of deceptive. All it takes to remove "find my mac" is to flash the RAM. This might be common knowledge to most people here, but a lot of people don't realize that all you have to do is the old opt-cmd-PR (nvram -d fmm-computer-name;nvram -d fmm-mobileme-token-FMM in terminal) ; I believe you can also just remove or add a RAM stick and this accomplishes the same thing. Apple assures us the way around this vulnerability is to set a firmware password, which is in itself a security problem. If you forget your firmware password, you have to "take your mac to a Genius Bar." If your firmware password is really easy to remember, there's no point in setting a firmware password because it can be brute hacked. I have gone through Apple Genius certification, and, well, it doesn't take much to figure out that all they're going to do is run a utility on your locked machine (I believe it might still be called csrutil). These are not trained security analysts. It takes about two months to become a "Genius." There are not a whole lot of whitehat hackers for hire out there willing to save the world for $15/hr, but no shortage of script kiddies who know what the darknet is. Also, if your machine is compromised by a bootkit or firmware hack that hides itself in the RAM, the best thing you can do is remove/add RAM before rebooting again. This worked for me once, to my amazement.

In other words, Find My Mac/phone is completely useless and more likely to cause you problems. Unless you're dealing with an idiot who steals a mac/iphone and starts using it out of complete ignorance (this happens, the New York Post tells me), then your machine is lost. Likely, they will take it to the person in their little network that fences hardware. These people are not geniuses either, but I don't hear of a lot of mac gear that makes it back to its original owners.

It took me about 5 minutes to find some script utilities to remove all traces of firmware protection on both my macs with latest updates.

I think the best theft security is to not have your stuff stolen. Add the firmware passwords like everyone tells you to anyway. Encrypting entire drives is a tax on performance, but adds a bit of protection, I suppose. Anyone with physical access to your computer or phone can do whatever they want, with a modicum of research, or by just connecting to that guy on craigslist with the ad that reads: "I will buy ANY computer, even locked ones!" There's one in every town.

[James_Smith]

There is one I know of called prey it's cross platform, unfortunately they charge but do have a free option, not sure how that compares to their other products.
you can read about it here: https://www.preyproject.com/download
How to forge also has some discussions on how to track missing laptops here:
https://www.howtoforge.com/tutorial/how ... ux-laptop/
Good Luck.

Apparently, I already had a Prey account from years ago that I'd forgotten about for my first smartphone. Thanks for mentioning it.

[wewa]

I think the best theft security is to not have your stuff stolen.

You should not be so dismissive.
Until it happens to you, you won't know what its like.
Sometimes its not under your control.
I am here because someone I know had their home broken into, and valuables stolen, like their laptop.
Be more considerate of other peoples situations.
Thank you.

[Hoser Rob]

... The purpose of GNU/Linux is that you just want to avoid this permanent monitoring by a company...

Maybe for you, but not for me, and you clearly don't know the history of Linux.