Wife's laptop stolen-partially my fault

[Yojimbo]

To make a long story short, I borrowed my wife's laptop for work and it was stolen out of the trunk of our car. Since I had borrowed her laptop and it was stolen because I had left it in the trunk, I feel quite guilty for what had happened. She is a good woman so I am certain that she will forgive me after she gets over being angry at me for the loss.

My primary concern - and her's- is that she had kept some files containing personal data (resumes, tax returns) on the laptop as a matter of convenience which, with hindsight, makes the theft even more inconvenient.

I have just enrolled online with Lifelock in order to combat identity theft and will be filing a police report regarding the theft to make it part of the official record, but am hoping that my brothers on HPOTD might have some other recommendations as to things I should do to protect my interests and my Wife's. My wife is also changing all of her passwords for banking & other online sites, but are there any other steps that you might be able to recommend that I take at this point.

Any help or suggestions as to what else I should do would be greatly appreciated!

[Eyebiter]

Does the workplace have Lojack for laptops tracking software enabled on the laptop? This locates computer on the internet every time it logs on.

[acealive1]

gonna be kinda hard to find it since the IP address changes alot. if u had a password set on it, all they have is a paperweight

[ProfessorChaos]

bummer, yojimbo. don't really have any advice, just thought i'd weigh in and tell ya good luck with the missus....

[Legion2213]

No advice here either, just a sincere hope it was stolen by brainless type who is more interested in having a lappy rather than the data that it contains...or that it ends up with somebody who has more interest in wiping it, reformatting it and using it/selling it than looking for info.

[shootemindehead]

Probably, whoever nicked it, is going to be interested in selling it on. Therefore they might just try and wipe the HD, assuming they're smart enough.

They probably won't be too interested in your wife's CV or he tax returns either. HOWEVER, if those files or other files on the laptop contain your home address, I'd be more worried.

Changing any passwords for various things (online banking etc) on the laptop too, is a good idea.

[Yojimbo]

Thank for the support and feedback guys!

I should clarify that this was my Wife's personal laptop that I had borrowed for a work presentation, and we had no virtual lojack installed. I am certain our home address was somewhere in her files as was the tax info which has ssn info, d.o.bs , etc. It was a fee years oldand needed to be replaced soon, but of course the value of the laptop itself is not my primary concern. The loss of photos and the likelihood of identity theft and fraud is what is really chafing me.

There is the added aspect of feeling violated when you are the victim of theft. The thought that folks are perusing though our photos is disconcerting.

Thank again for your thoughts!

[LouCipherr]

Wow, this sucks to hear, Yojimbo. If it was me, I'd be pretty pissed off and worried too.

One thing that should make you (sort of) rest easy (not that it's that easy when theft is concerned) is that most criminals/thieves are dumb as a box of fucking rocks. Chances are, he's just going to resell the thing. Most of these bozos are just looking to steal, then make a quick buck off of it.

I know that probably doesn't make you feel much better about the situation, but it's something to think about. A thief is usually a "quick turnaround for quick cash" kinda person.

[DjfunkmasterG]

Lesson learned here... don't leave laptops in the car.

However, like everyone else has pretty much said... first change all your account passwords, and even update security questions, since some people use security questions that relate to their personal life and are sometimes tied to other personal information. (Tax stuff, Resume etc)

Life Lock... Waste of money man... If they steal your identity, chances are they will go somewhere that won't bother with all the required security checks... these are criminals and criminals search out other criminals to help keep their crime spree going. The best thing to do, go to each credit reporting agency and file an identity theft disclosure... this way when someone goes to pull your credit a message will pop up for ID and ask for something very personal, (ie: Driver's License Number, etc) I found this is the best way and it works no matter how shady the business offering credit terms. Unless they can answer those questions, request for credit is denied and then police are contacted to investigate.

I hope your wife password protects her laptop... not that it really matters in some cases, but it helps. If someone brought a laptop to me with a password there is enough software out there to crack it and get it, but since this is some probably low life douche stealing to get his next crack fix chances are they will most likely wipe the hard drive and re-sell it.

When you report it stolen make sure you give every identifier, especially serial numbers. if it gets pawned the cops will find it within 30 days... Writing down serial numbers, service ID's and the COA Key from Windows help in tracking down stolen laptops more often than not.

One thing you may definitely want to do and I think Lou would agree with me on this is start using RAR and using the password function with it. Every week archive the personal and precious information you keep on it by zipping it into an RAR file and then password protect that stuff... yeah that can be broken too, but an extra security measure deters a thief from wasting their time... when every door they hit is (please Enter password) they will probably give up and just Format C:

Next laptop you buy... get the lojack software... out of all the lojack programs for the laptop one is the only one that really works. Lojack for cars is useless, trust me I know... had a car with Lojack stolen and it never turned up again.

[Neil]

gonna be kinda hard to find it since the IP address changes alot. if u had a password set on it, all they have is a paperweight

Not true! Just take the drive out, plug it into a caddy, and you can access all the data!

---------- Post added at 11:16 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:16 AM ----------


Lesson learned here... don't leave laptops in the car.
They actually have devices that can detect the laptop in your boot (I believe)!

[acealive1]

Not true! Just take the drive out, plug it into a caddy, and you can access all the data!

---------- Post added at 11:16 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:16 AM ----------


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thieves arent all that smart,bro. dont give em that much credit. you wouldnt believe how many calls i get about someone just 'bought a new lap top and theres a password on it'........... i obviously tell em i cant help every time





or heres a story......one night i was still living at home,my mom, me and my bro were all gone to our respective dates etc etc that night. we come back and someone literally stole everything u could carry on foot. the problem? it was snowing and we had his foot print all over the place. dumb bastard