Prey Project

I was sat watching this weeks BBC Click episode, you can find it here, as many security companies are bringing out apps for smart phones not only to keep them safe from malware, but to find missing devices, well now we have that for our laptops and desktops.

I decided to give it a go, see what I make of it and it's really really simple to use, so I'm gonna do my own review of this, as the BBC Click review really looked rush and wasn't given much time to go through it and show you people how it works, so I'll do it here.

Let me introduce you to the Prey Project. This program allows you to remotely track your laptop or desktop the first time they make an internet connect when stolen.

How does it work?

I've installed this on my laptop, it uses tracking it via the nearest WiFi AP or GPS to pin point where your stolen device is. Just like any remote access program, Prey also allows you to remotely lock the device with a password so it can't be used, and sound an alert if needed.

This is just the software side of things, there is a few more things I'll go through in this blog post as well, but here is 3 screenshots of my settings on the Prey website.

http://i26.lulzimg.com/9b642d.png
http://i26.lulzimg.com/6b6ccc.png
http://i26.lulzimg.com/61443c.png

When a device is stolen, you switch the "Missing?" option to 'Yes' so Prey knows to track it and there is your settings for locking the device with a password and setting an alert to let the thief know they are being tracked.

Now, Prey also monitors your machines hardware and alerts you to any change, see screenshot I took below, but it's monitoring my motherboard, how much RAM I have, how many RAM sticks are in my machine, what my BIOS is including version number, and my processor, how fast it is and how many cores are in it.

http://i26.lulzimg.com/729331.png

Another thing I haven't said but I'll cover it anyway. You can have it monitor upto 3 devices all at one time. So far, I'm only monitoring one device, my desktop machine, so I'm gonna add my laptop into that when I get a chance to.

http://i26.lulzimg.com/edd018.png

I recommend giving them a try, upgrade to premium for just $5 a month and take advantage of all the premium features they offer, totally worth it. Here is another blog about a success case of using Prey software, check it out:Why You Don't Steal From A Hacker

Follow Greg, Prey and me on Twitter for loads more updates.