tracing possibility?

[Blizzooka]

My husband accidently left his computer outside of a restaraunt. When we went back to look for it of course it was gone:(

We have noticed that our Yahoo Instant Messaging has been logging in on another computer! Obviously, this person is hopefully not smart enough to log off our IM and get his own.

My question is this....... is there any way to trace where this person is using our yahoo messaging??

[Sterling_Aug]

Ask Yahoo if they can trace the IP address for you. Tell the Police about it and they may help.

[millwork]

Tell the Police about it and they may help.Hello Blizzooka,

This is really important. Make sure they write a report or at least a "blotter" entry and get a copy. Whether or not the computer is recovered, the actual value of his computer could be the least of your concerns.

With identity theft getting so bad, every bit of documentation you can come up with could help, if you have to fight that battle.

I'd also recommend you set down with your husband and make a list of every possible piece of personal (privacy) information that may have been on that computer.

If that computer was ever used for on-line shopping, banking, bill paying or any other secure method of transfering money - change all user names and passwords!

If any passwords were the same or similar to a PIN used anywhere, change your PINs as well.

Best of luck,

John B. :t

[G]

Ideally I would strongly recommend RoboForm Pro - very cheap, constantly updates and lifetime free upgrade. The best around and save me so much time. All accounts are encrypted in AES 256-bit cipher.

http://www.roboform.com/

Also consider encryption from SecurStar DCPP

http://www.securstar.com/products_drivecryptpp.php

Pre-boot encryption authentication required, plus the volumes can be encrypted with the AES-256-bit cipher.

For laptops this is a minimum.

Also an alarm that would have set off the moment you moved 'x' metres from your laptop would have prompted you to go back and fetch it.

It all depends on how motivated and serious you consider your data is if your laptop is lost. It's a very small price to pay for peace of mind.

Obviously it is to late now so rapidity change username and PWs to all accounts etc if you can remember them all before they are abused. It may be that they have a free laptop and will do nothing with the data but who knows.

A hard lesson has been learnt.

[cdroman]

My question is this....... is there any way to trace where this person is using our yahoo messaging??


They are probably WarDriving in which case the IP or IP's are probably not theirs.

[Sterling_Aug]

That would only be a guess. I doubt it is a reality.

[Crashman]

LOL, if they track the IP to the actual system location, this would be the first time I've ever heard of an instant messenger getting a system back, rather than taking it out!

I can't believe someone took it on line...were I a thief, the first thing I'd do is reload the system. As for the network controller, I'm not going there in an open forum.

[cdroman]

That would only be a guess. I doubt it is a reality.


I'm giving them credit for not being that stupid that they would go online with it at their home without reloading. I'd say it's a pretty good guess. It's still easy to find unprotected networks.