Protecting your precious Laptop

It would appear stealing laptop computers has become an industry that pays rich dividends to the thieves in Zimbabwe as research shows that 93 percent of stolen laptops are never recovered while one in every 14 laptops gets stolen and apparently 70 percent of laptop thefts consists of an inside job.

Shocking statistics by any measure of imagination and this trend may continue looking at the way people are buying laptops in Zimbabwe. It is commendable that the government scrapped duty on ITC equipment which plays a critical role in empowering the modern Zimbabwean.

Laptop theft is a significant threat to users of laptop computers. Many methods to protect the data and to prevent theft have been developed, including alarms, laptop locks, and visual deterrents such as stickers or labels.

Victims can lose hardware, software, and essential data that has not been backed up. Thieves also may have access to sensitive data and personal information. Some systems authorise access based on credentials stored on the laptop including MAC addresses, web cookies, cryptographic keys and stored passwords.

Passwords are no longer adequate to protect laptops. There are many solutions that can improve the strength of a laptop's protection. Full disk encryption (FDE) is an increasingly popular and cost-effective approach. Full disk encryption can be taken on from a software-based approach, a hardware-based approach, or both - end-based approach.

FDE provides protection before the operating system starts up with pre-boot authentication; however precautions still need to be taken against cold boot attacks.

A number of computer security measures have emerged that aim at protecting data.

Increase in Laptop sales and users have led to high incidents of theft. What is lost is not just the laptop, but also valuable, sensitive and creative information in it. Open Source software is now available online like Ubuntu Prey.

With the growing ubiquity of, and user reliance on, mobile computing devices (laptops, PDAs, smart phones, etc.), loss or theft of a device is increasingly likely, disruptive, and costly. Internet-based tracking systems provide a method for mitigating this risk.

These tracking systems send, over the Internet, updates regarding the current location of the device to a remotely administered repository. If the device is lost or stolen, but maintains Internet connectivity and unmodified software, the tracking system can keep tabs on the current whereabouts of the device. This data could prove invaluable when the appropriate authorities attempt to recover the device.

Unfortunately, with current proprietary tracking systems users sacrifice location privacy. Indeed, even while the device is still in the rightful owner's possession, the tracking system is keeping tabs on the locations it (and its owner) visits. Even worse, with some commercial products, even outsiders (parties not affiliated with the tracking provider) can "piggy-back" on the tracking system's Internet traffic to uncover a mobile device user's private information and/or locations visited.

Locally, though, a commercial alternative run by Electronic Systems, Inc supported by Net Trace (South Africa) and Computrace® One™, a computer tracking software developed by Absolute® Software Corporation (Canada) track, secure and recover computing assets when they get stolen.

Tawanda Chikosi, the company’s Business Development Manager, said Electronic Systems, Inc utilises the patented Computrace® Technology Platform designed and developed by a listed Canadian company Absolute® Software Corporation.

Through Absolute's strategic partnerships with all leading computer manufacturers in the world (HP, DELL, TOSHIBA, ACER, FUJITSU, LENOVO among others), a Computer Tracking Agent is embedded in the motherboard of the computers whilst they are still being made at their respective factories.

“The Agent, built into the BIOS of the computers is incredibly persistent meaning it cannot be removed and allows your computers to maintain a connection with the Absolute Monitoring Centre. BIOS persistence is the most comprehensive option, defeating virtually every action that could remove the Tracking Agent from the laptop including if the BIOS is flashed, if the laptop is reimaged, or if the hard drive is replaced,” said Mr Chikosi. 

He said the idea of embedding the tracking hardware in the BIOS of the computer is to ensure that it becomes persistent. The software we install activates the tracker in the BIOS to start communicating with The Absolute Monitoring Centre.

“As the world’s only persistent computer configuration product, the Tracking agent will be automatically reinstalled if the Computrace Application Agent detects that it is missing, allowing our customers to maintain control over all of the laptops in their deployment,” said Mr Chikosi.

He said once we activate the Agent, the laptop sends a signal to our Monitoring Centre once everyday– In the event of loss or theft, it starts communicating with our Monitoring Centre every fifteen minutes. The first thing that we get from the stolen computer is the IP address from which the computer is connecting to the internet from. The next time your lost or stolen computer has any kind of Internet access, it will send a new message.

“Once that new message is sent, an Absolute theft recovery technician will extract the IP address (the address on the Internet from which the message was sent) from the email and determine the Internet Service Provider that assigned that IP address,” said Mr Chikosi.

Every computer connected to the Internet has its own Internet address called an “IP Address.” An IP Address is a set of four numbers separated by 3 decimals. (i.e., 255.255.255.255) Every ISP (Internet Service Provider) controls a group of IP Addresses that it, in turn, assigns to its customers.

He added that when a person using a stolen computer logs on to their email account with whatever email client (Gmail, Yahoo, even work email accounts), the intelligent tracking agent sends us the account details that the person slotted in when they were opening that email account.  It sends this information through a stealth and independent email client so as to ensure that the user is oblivious of what is happening. We also get the email accounts with which you the person will be communicating with. This is one of the primary methods we use to identify the user of the stolen laptop.

“The same happens when the person logs of to over 150 social networks such as Facebook, My space and Youtube. If the stolen laptop has a web camera, the tracking agent will take control of the camera and take a photo shot of the user and sends it to us, allowing us to have concrete intelligence about the user. If the computer is GPS enabled, as with all latest laptops, we will start tracking it before it even connects to the internet. We will be tracking it via GPS satellites and we will be seeing it on a Google map as it moves,” said Mr Chikosi.

Zimbabwe Tourism Gateway to put Zimbabwe back on the map

                                                                                                                  

The tourism industry has been targeted as one of the “quick wins” industry as it offers investors timely returns on their investment for it is one of the industries that has witnessed a very rapid turnaround in fortunes yet still remains full of opportunities.

The organisation tasked with marketing the industry, Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA), has for the past two years been working on an ingenious US$ 4 million product called Zimbabwe Tourism Gateway, an online platform that will provide services for the tourism industry and relevant stakeholders leaving the players in the industry with a competitive edge over their regional counterparts.

Based on three strategic foundations the platform was designed in the wake of a nation ostracized by the international media leading to a bad image yet the facts on the ground reflect a country abound with an amazing array of tourist resorts and sites.

The first part of these three areas is the Geographical Information System (GIS), which is customized system for Zimbabwe which provides mapping software and applications much like Google Maps yet this product is specifically designed for the foreign or domestic tourist keen to discover and explore “A world of Wonders”.

ZTA offices currently have limited stock of the Geographical Positioning System (GPS) devices in their shop but more are set to come. The GPS device which is being sold for US$200 comes loaded with the major tourist resorts and sites making travel within Zimbabwe a breeze for a tourist.

ZTA has enlisted the help of CST Advisory Limited which is a Zimbabwean owned e-commerce and ICT company based in the United Kingdom (UK) as the project managers. Chris Maramba, Onsite Project Manager, of CST said they are currently running a pilot project for the second area which is Tourism Mobile Gateway with Net One.

“Currently only Net One are offering this service with the two other mobile operators set to join some time soon. With this product you can get tourism information on the go. Net One users simply have to dial *120*8# and a menu with the relevant information appears,” said Mr Maramba.

The good thing about the Tourism Mobile Gateway is any phone can be sued to access the information because of Unstructured Supplementary Services Data (USSD) which comes with any mobile phone.

Currently the service is getting on average 1000 hits a day meaning it is a revenue generating product on the part of the mobile service provider and with the two operators left on their way onboard Zimbabwean tourism information will be literally on the people’s fingertips.

“Zimbabwe is the currently the only country within the region that will be offering this product because of where we are coming from. Other countries don’t see the need for such measures of attracting tourists because they haven’t been segregated like we have been,” said Mr Maramba.

ZTA’s System Administrator within the Market Research and Product Development department, Mr Kawisa Maseka, said the third area being the Tourism Mobile Kiosk will be available at the Harare International Airport by the end of next week will see visitors getting information on Victoria Falls on the kiosk.

“We will be putting the Tourism Mobile Kiosk booth at the airport but the booth will only have comprehensive information on Victoria Falls while we are working on the other resorts. We want to place these booths with information on resorts’ accommodation, places to eat, service providers, entertainment and so on,” said Mr Maseka.

He said the authority’s aim is to put these booths at airports, streets, Zimbabwe’s embassies abroad, ZTA attaché among other strategic places so that a tourist can be able to view what Zimbabwe has to offer at the touch of a button.

“These kiosks will be enabled to provide information to potential tourists in the language they understand. This kiosk will provide the tour operator with various opportunities that include brand visibility, advertising and revenue as tourists will be able to book and pay right there,” said Mr Kawisa.

Mr Maramba added that they are currently in negotiations with various banks to provide Bank Identification Number (BIN) for Point of Sale (POS) terminals for the Tourism Prepaid Zimswitch card.

“There will also be Tourism Prepaid Master card whose program provider will Prepaid Financial Services of the UK and the Tourism Prepaid Visa Card by GTP Limited of the United States of America. We are also in negotiations with various strategic partners to set up the Tourism Virtual Private Network which will see all tourism operators being linked with ZTA where they can access all other facilities,” said Mr Maramba.

He said the Zimbabwe Tourism Gateway was a ZTA initiative which they have funded from their own coffers but they are also working with strategic partners within the ICT industry.

“One of the biggest venture within the whole platform is the National Call Centre which will allow for any query to be attended to as well as the National Booking Portal which are all modules under Zimbabwe Tourism Gateway making them integrated so they can provide one seamless solution to the tourism operator,” said Mr Maramba.

ZTA’s initiative reflects on the undeniable power of ICTs in our daily lives, a noble initiative that should see the authority applauded for acknowledging the role ICTs are currently playing and the role they will play in the future. Zimbabwe is too much of gem that cannot afford to be enjoyed by the locals and foreign tourists who should be flocking to this majestic nation.

An initiative driven by Zimbabweans, developed by Zimbabweans and Built by Zimbabweans should see us going forward and not backward which yet again proves that Zimbabweans can be leaders in the ICT field.