R E V I E W

Gone in 6.0 Seconds

September 30, 2002
By Mike DeMaria

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Recovery Services

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	In this article
	Introduction
	The Eighth Commandment
	Disk-Encryption Software
	Report Card: Disk Encryption Software
	Lockdown Devices
	Report Card: Lockdown Devices
	Recovery Services
	Report Card: Recovery Services
	Executive Summary
	File-Encryption Products

Products Reviewed: Stealth Security Stealth Signal | Absolute Software Corp. ComputracePlus | zTrace Technologies zTrace Gold 5.0

Computer-tracking services are designed to help recover stolen or missing desktops and laptops. An invisible software agent is loaded on every machine. The computer will send status queries to a central server at set intervals, such as every hour or day. This is all based on IP connections, not a GPS (Global Positioning System) or other physical transmitting device. In other words, it's not LoJack for laptops. And unlike LoJack, there's no money-back guarantee that a machine will be recovered. A smart thief who knows what he or she is looking for could disable these products, as could a low-level format. However, the software is usually hidden well enough that its presence isn't obvious, and most thieves won't look for or notice it.

You alert the tracking service when a machine is stolen, and it puts the computer into recovery mode. In this mode, the software will send status reports more frequently, and on every start-up. The information sent includes machine name, IP address and system details, such as drive space and memory.

You should contact local law enforcement immediately upon realizing the theft. The tracking company cannot contact law enforcement without a police report, and without the police report, the police cannot obtain a search warrant. With luck, the thief will log onto the Internet, letting the stolen computer contact the tracking company's servers. This will inform the tracking service of the thief's IP address and ISP. The police can then request information from the ISP that'll track the user to a particular connection point. This process takes time--a faster method would be to track a phone number to an address. A computer with a modem will attempt to call a toll-free number, connecting to the tracking service's NOC. The NOC can use caller ID to find out the thief's phone number. Caller ID blocking and unlisted numbers do not work when calling a toll-free number. The police can use this information to obtain a search warrant and recover the computer. You do not need to fill out a police report to enable recovery mode, which can be a relief if the computer was just "borrowed" by another employee and not stolen.

We looked at services from Absolute Software, Stealth Security and zTrace. We "stole" a laptop and activated the recovery services (without involving the police, of course). Our Editor's Choice is Stealth Security's Stealth Signal because of its support of Apple's Mac OS and its pit-bull-like tracking. Of course, the efficiency of your police department will have a lot to do with recovery time.

Stealth Security Stealth Signal

While all of the vendors support Microsoft Windows 95 and up, Stealth Signal is the only product to also support Mac OS X, and the company provides some aggressive tracking capabilities.

Once a machine receives a stolen signal, it reports back more frequently and on every boot. It will also continually attempt to dial through the modem into the NOC, even while on a broadband connection. Using a public-records search, the Stealth Signal recovery team was able to pinpoint the street address where the stolen machine was located. Stealth Signal avoided showing up as an Internet program when we installed ZoneAlarm personal firewall, which detects programs trying to connect to the Internet; this means that, even with ZoneAlarm installed, the thief can't see the program running.

Stealth Signal: The All in One Computer Security System, starts at $45 per machine, per year. Stealth Security, (888) 840-9095. http://www.stealthsignal.com

Absolute Software Corp. ComputracePlus

Absolute Software's CompuTrace software has more uses than just recovery software. When you bundle on AbsoluteTrack, it becomes an outsourced asset-tracking and inventory-management product. Computrace functions well on its own, but if you're looking for asset management and recovery as well, this is the service to get. However, the flip side is that this added functionality makes the Web-based management a bit harder to navigate; Stealth Signal and zTrace were simpler to set up.

We were pleased with Computrace's tracking capabilities. The modem dialing into the NOC wasn't on by default; we had to request for it to be activated. Even then, the modem dialed as we were talking on the phone. Computrace also offers format protection in that it can simulate booting directly off the floppy. When the PC starts up, it uses the tracking software as a boot loader. From there, it tries to load the operating system off the floppy, CD or hard drive. Unfortunately our test machine's CD-ROM was not supported, and a reformat (via the WinXP CD installer) blew Computrace away. Like Stealth Signal, Computrace didn't show up in ZoneAlarm.

ComputracePlus, $49.95 per machine, per year. Absolute Software Corp., (800) 220-0733. http://www.absolute.com

zTrace Technologies zTrace Gold 5.0

zTrace has an additional-cost add-on, zControl, that makes this software quite powerful. In addition to normal tracking capabilities, zControl lets you specify options--such as remotely deleting, hiding, encrypting and uploading files, as well as locking the computer. This is a great feature that isn't offered by the other vendors. We were not able to test the modem dial-in capabilities--zTrace said that feature is reserved for real thefts only. However, the company claims the software will call back when detecting a user-initiated modem connection. The zTrace Web-based management is the simplest to use among the products tested, but it's still a bit tricky to see information about several groups of machines simultaneously. The client software also showed up in ZoneAlarm, and as such could be denied access. Although you can configure ZoneAlarm to allow zTrace without warning, if a thief initially installed ZoneAlarm, he or she will be alerted to zTrace's presence.

zTrace Gold 5.0, $49.95 per machine, per year. zTrace Technologies, (781) 891-1328, (877) 987-7223. http://www.zTrace.com

Michael J. DeMaria is an associate technology editor based at Network Computing's Syracuse University Real-World Labs®. Write to him at mdemaria@nwc.com.