A new open-source project offers a tool that will add tracking systems to laptops. The tool, Adeona, focuses on privacy as well as security by offering privacy-preserving processes in its design.
A new FOSS tool promises to help track lost or stolen laptops and more. (IMG:J.Anderson/Adeona)
Removing the need to rely on third-party tracking and monitoring, Adeona focuses instead on ensuring that no one, other than the laptop owner, can use the service to monitor and track the computer should the need arise. The privacy offered here means that there can be no abuse of third-party flaws to track legit users. Privacy is ensured because of DHT.
“Adeona is designed to use the Open Source OpenDHT distributed storage service to store location updates sent by a small software client installed on an owner's laptop. The client continually monitors the current location of the laptop, gathering information (such as IP addresses and local network topology) that can be used to identify its current location,” the Adeona project explains.
“The client then uses strong cryptographic mechanisms to not only encrypt the location data, but also ensure that the ciphertexts stored within OpenDHT are anonymous and unlinkable. At the same time, it is easy for an owner to retrieve location information.”
The project is currently in its beta phase, but fully functional. The software will work on Windows, Mac, and Linux. Mac users will get a bonus, according to the project page, by using built-in iSight camera and isightcapture, another free tool that can be used to get a photo of the thief. You might recall that the iSight camera has helped capture criminals in the past.
The other information collected, IP address (both internal and external), nearby routers and access point names, will help some, but not all, device owners if they do not understand the information that is offered up.
Now, while the focus for this tool is the tracking of laptops should they be lost or stolen, the truth is that users can install it on other things as well. The project FAQ explains that it can be installed on desktops, servers, and they are even looking into options that would allow it to be installed on devices like the Apple iPhone.
As with all software security measures, a dedicated thief can remove it, as the Adeona project is fully aware.
“This is the first public distribution for deployment. For this deployment we have chosen to make Adeona easy to uninstall because we wish to provide flexibility to you (the user). Pending your feedback, future versions of Adeona could incorporate mechanisms that will make it difficult to remove.
“A motivated and sufficiently equipped or knowledgeable thief can always prevent Internet device tracking: he or she can erase software on the device, deny Internet access, or even destroy the device. For example, Adeona currently has no mechanisms for attempting to survive a disk wipe.”
So does this make the security offered moot, if someone can just wipe the drive?
“We point out that we do not believe this renders Adeona (and other location-tracking systems) useless. The Adeona system was designed to protect against the common thief -- for example, a thief that opportunistically decides to swipe your laptop from a coffee shop or your dorm room, and then wants to use it or perhaps sell it on online.
“Such thieves will often not be technologically savvy and will not know to remove Adeona from your system. While device tracking will not always work, systems like Adeona can work, and it is against the common-case thief that we feel tracking systems can add significant value.”
Check out the project page here and the FAQ for more information.
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