Stolen Laptop Leads Police to Identity Theft Ring


By Bill Greenwood
September 16, 2009 7:14AM


When CMS was notified that the computer had been stolen, it reported the incident to law enforcement and to Absolute via a Web portal. Because the agent was embedded into the firmware, enabling it to survive everything from operating system reinstallations to hard drive removal, Absolute was able to contact the stolen laptop.


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Absolute Software and the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS) in North Carolina found more than they expected when they recovered a stolen laptop from one of the school's portable trailers. Using Absolute's Computrace Agent, which was embedded into the firmware of the computer, they were not only able to reclaim the device but also help federal and local law enforcement uncover an alleged identity theft ring and charge several individuals with immigration law violations.
"We were able to mine the forensic data on the computer," says David Hawks, business development manager, education industry for Absolute. "During the investigation, we're trying to track the computer to recover it, but then what happens is these cases lead to so much bigger cases."

When CMS was notified that the computer had been stolen, it reported the incident to local law enforcement and to Absolute via a web portal available to Computrace subscribers, Hawks says. Because the agent was embedded into the firmware, enabling it to survive everything from operating system reinstallations to hard drive removal, Absolute was able to contact the stolen laptop and instruct it to send updates on its location every 15 minutes instead of the usual 24.5 hours. The company's theft recovery team then used forensic tools such as keystroke capturing and registry scanning to learn as much about the computer's users as possible.

"It's only a matter of time before they reveal who they are," Hawks says. "They don't know what forensic tools are on there. You can actually see the computer screen, real-time, as they're surfing the web. You can see what they're clicking on. You can see who they're talking to through emails."

After uncovering evidence of possible immigration violations, the ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) stepped in. Then, federal agents and CMS law enforcement raided the trailer where the laptop was located. The computer was recovered, and law enforcement found plenty of other equipment: a laminating machine, a scanner and printer , hole punches used for ID cards, and other materials in the makeshift low-level document lab, according to Absolute.

"What it does is send a message to anybody that is thinking about trying to lift a Charlotte-Mecklenburg asset to move on to another district and not mess with them," Hawks says. "They have the technology and the law enforcement working together to ensure that Charlotte Mecklenburg's assets are safeguarded."

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