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dick
Lojack for Laptops (Computertrace) marketed by Absolute Software can be disabled by simply clicking on the password retrieval link and providing the user’s email address.
Quoting from a September 14 email that i received from Chris Librel, Technical Support Representative, Computrace LoJack for Laptops, Absolute Software Corporation,
“If someone was able to gather your email address and the
password for the LoJack for laptops website, then they would
be able to remove LoJack for laptops off the computer.” (sic)
Once a theif has your compuer, she has your email address. According to Librel, that address is all that is required for Absolute Software to send the thief your password to their site where your computer’s copy for Lojack for Laptops can be disabled.
Librel tries to defend this foolishness by writing,
“The forgotten password link that is on the LoJack
for laptops websiteworks the same for pretty much
every website that requires a login.”
It was pointed out to Mr. Libriel that password retrieval links for many sites require that a “secret question” (pet’s name. mother’s maiden name, fav color) be set up when one first registers for the site and that the question must be correctly answered before the site will send you the password.
Librel goes on to brag that,
“LoJack is a stealthy product and does not appear
as application under the Add/Remove programs or
be recognized as a program in Windows.”
(Presumably, Mr. Librel knows that his company now markets a Mac version of Lojack for Laptops). But why should the theif bother to remove Lojack for Laptops from the machine when Absolute software will just give her the password to the site so ithe software can be disabled?
A newer level of site protection used by Bank of American and now Yahoo! is the sitekey. One might think that for all of Absolute Software’s ‘stealth’ they would want to protect their customers from theives phishing for Computertrace passwords.
Either techie Libriel doesn’t really know how his product works or the designers were absolutely asleep at the keyboard. Perhaps Mr. Libriel was told that theives never upgrade their skills in order to defeat the latest and greatest locks and protections deisigned to keep my stuff safe.
In any event, I have alredy bought, paid for and installed LojackforLaptops on my spanking new MacBook Pro. I’ll just have to hope that the theif who grabs it is as dumb as Chris Libre and Absolute Software think she is.
dick
Quoting from a September 14 email that i received from Chris Librel, Technical Support Representative, Computrace LoJack for Laptops, Absolute Software Corporation,
“If someone was able to gather your email address and the
password for the LoJack for laptops website, then they would
be able to remove LoJack for laptops off the computer.” (sic)
Once a theif has your compuer, she has your email address. According to Librel, that address is all that is required for Absolute Software to send the thief your password to their site where your computer’s copy for Lojack for Laptops can be disabled.
Librel tries to defend this foolishness by writing,
“The forgotten password link that is on the LoJack
for laptops websiteworks the same for pretty much
every website that requires a login.”
It was pointed out to Mr. Libriel that password retrieval links for many sites require that a “secret question” (pet’s name. mother’s maiden name, fav color) be set up when one first registers for the site and that the question must be correctly answered before the site will send you the password.
Librel goes on to brag that,
“LoJack is a stealthy product and does not appear
as application under the Add/Remove programs or
be recognized as a program in Windows.”
(Presumably, Mr. Librel knows that his company now markets a Mac version of Lojack for Laptops). But why should the theif bother to remove Lojack for Laptops from the machine when Absolute software will just give her the password to the site so ithe software can be disabled?
A newer level of site protection used by Bank of American and now Yahoo! is the sitekey. One might think that for all of Absolute Software’s ‘stealth’ they would want to protect their customers from theives phishing for Computertrace passwords.
Either techie Libriel doesn’t really know how his product works or the designers were absolutely asleep at the keyboard. Perhaps Mr. Libriel was told that theives never upgrade their skills in order to defeat the latest and greatest locks and protections deisigned to keep my stuff safe.
In any event, I have alredy bought, paid for and installed LojackforLaptops on my spanking new MacBook Pro. I’ll just have to hope that the theif who grabs it is as dumb as Chris Libre and Absolute Software think she is.
dick