Student's Laptop Recovered Thanks to Mac Phone Home

Dear Public Safety Friends,

Thanks to Columbia University IT and Columbia University Public Safety's crime prevention program, Mac Phone Home, a laptop that was stolen at LAX airport was recovered and the thief was arrested!

A Columbia student was returning back to New York from his home in Los Angeles when he put his laptop through the LAX airport security check point x-ray machine. He continued to walk through the metal detectors and was called back, while his laptop was left unattended at the x-ray machine. He returned to pick up his laptop and noticed that some unknown person had taken it.

A police report was made, and the student remembered that he installed Mac Phone Home in his Mac book. He immediately notified CU Public Safety, and an alert was put on his computer. Several days later, his computer began to call-in with its location. Brigadoon Software, the maker of PC & Mac Phone Home, forwarded the information needed for the police search warrant. The computer was recovered a short time later. The thief was confused as to how the police was able to apprehend him.

Many thanks to folks at Brigadoon Software as well as our friends at the LAPD, especially Police Officer Garcia, who was responsible for the investigation and the apprehension of the perpetrator.

If you have not installed PC or Mac Phone Home in your laptop or desk top, you can down load it from the CUIT website http://www.facil.columbia.edu/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.columbia.edu/acis/software/pcphonehome. This link will also give you access to Mac Phone Home. This is not needed for download. Please make sure you record your computer's serial number and Mac address, as this link will also tell you how to get it if you are not sure. Keep this information in a safe location. This information will help speed up the recovery of lost / stolen computers.

If you are thinking of purchasing a new computer for the holidays, don't forget PC & Mac Phone Home. It's FREE for Columbia, CUMC, Barnard, Teachers College & JTS students, faculty & staff.

Ricardo Morales
Columbia University
Department of Public Safety
Manager Crime Prevention Programs
Crime Prevention Specialist
212-854-8513
www.columbia.edu/cu/publicsafety
Pride-Professionalism-Service          

Click here to discover how another student's laptop was recently recovered thanks to "Operation ID."