Tech | May 10, 2008 | 36 comments

Woman remotely logs in to her stolen Mac to catch thieves

source: http://www.lohud.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008805090392

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A woman whose apartment was burgled has caught the thieves by hacking into the laptop they'd stolen and taking pictures of them.

On Tuesday last week, one of the victims received a phone call from a friend asking her if she was online: she said no, and was told by the friend that his computer showed her as being logged onto the web. At that point, the victim signed onto another computer and used the "Back to My Mac" programme to deduce that her stolen Mac was online, and that someone was using it to shop on the internet. She then activated the stolen computer's camera, allowing her to "see" what was in front of the laptop.

At first she saw only an empty chair - but a little while later she was able to photograph a man sitting in front of her stolen laptop, and then his accomplice. The victim did not know either man but showed the photos to one of her roommates, who recognized them as having attended a get-together at the apartment a few weeks before the burglary.

The burglars, both men in their 20s, were arrested at their New York homes on Wednesday, after the woman handed the photographs in to the police. Around $5,000 (over £2,500) worth of electrical equipment was recovered.
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