[kictanet] Q: How are Kenyan telcos helping the police recover stolen laptops?

[Alex Comninos]

It can be quite easy to track USB modems (dongles) through the IEMI
number, like in a cellphone. It is easy to block IEMI numbers and
punish the criminal by rendering the device useless. Whether
geolocating the devices through triangulation of GSM reception is
possible depends on whether this type of tracking is allowed by
legislation. This would probably need a warrant to prevent abuse.

Detecting a laptop is however virtually impossible. Laptops transmit
two MAC adresses over networks (the wired and wireless connection)
that can identify them. However the MAC address can only be detected
by LANs or wireless networks. Once the device is in a local network
(LAN) it is behind a router, which has its own MAC address, rendering
the MAC adress of the laptop undetectable. Thus the telcos can only
track USB modems and phones, but not laptops. There are simply no
technological methods available to have telcos cooperate in finding
laptops.

I would suggest if one is afraid of losing a laptop:
1- one insures it
2- one encrypts the harddrive (Windows can do this now) as to not have
sensitive data stolen
3- one backs up their data regularly, either to a harddrive, or online
to the cloud.


On 17 October 2012 12:39, Nancy Macharia <n_macharia at yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
> Muraya,
> This is a serious concern as we kenyans  save their hard earned income to purchase laptops.
>
> The amount of agony and disorientation one experiences upon losing not just the hardware resource but more importantly the information is enormous.
>
> I was a victim of this heinous act and telcos did not appear to be of help.
>
> I would be delighted to offer ideas towards realising a solution for this menace.
>
> Nancy
> Tel: +254727746156Sent from my BlackBerry
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: "S.M. Muraya" <murigi.muraya at gmail.com>
> Sender: "kictanet"
>  <kictanet-bounces+n_macharia=yahoo.co.uk at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
> Date: Wed, 17 Oct 2012 11:31:04
> To: <n_macharia at yahoo.co.uk>
> Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions<kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
> Subject: [kictanet] Q: How are Kenyan telcos helping the police recover
>         stolen laptops?
>
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> KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth, share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.