I know there are ideas like this, but this is just another way to approach the issue.
I want to create a “Security Virus” (a virus, in that it can’t easily be removed/disabled) that when the computer is turned on tries to ping a known locally-hosted IP and verify the MAC address of the target. If it can’t verify/ping the target, it disables any usage of the UI, sends location data through Google Chrome, Firefox, or IE9’s location sharing capability to the owner’s email, and then turns itself off.
It would be even better on laptops with a 3G/Mobile data plan that it could automatically connect to in order to send the location data.
The purpose would be to help recover stolen computers. I know there are location-aware services for mobile devices and creative people have been able to recover stolen computers that have stupidly been put on the network. I’m also sure there are some pitfalls to this idea…what do you think?
