Story · Insurance · Recovery
The stolen computers came back online, and we were watching.
Somebody broke into a small office across from the owner's house and took a work laptop, a tablet, glasses and the desktop PC. There was no camera footage and nothing obvious to go on.
The situation
This is usually where the story ends. The equipment is gone, the insurance claim gets filed, and everybody moves on assuming the data is gone too.
What the thief did not know is that the management software we run was still on those machines, and it does not care whose internet connection it is using.
What we did
When one of the machines was plugged in and connected, it reported home. We pulled the external address it was reporting from and took it to the sheriff's office.
Then we did the part that makes the difference: we walked the investigator through what the information actually meant and what to ask for. Which provider owned the address, what to request from them, and how to confirm the machine had genuinely been at a given location rather than merely routed through it. The machine was on a wired connection rather than wireless, which gave the provider more to work with.
The first address they were given turned out to be wrong and belonged to an elderly couple. We went back, refined it, and the second one was right. An arrest followed. About a month later the second machine came online and the same process ran again.
Everything was recovered. The investigator's own closing note on the thread was two words: computer recovered.
"We are not police officers. We are the people who can tell an investigator what this number means and what to ask the provider for."
How the service team puts itWhat changed
ResolvedThe client got their equipment back and the people responsible were arrested. The data never turned up anywhere it should not have.
It is an old story now, and we keep telling it for a reason that has nothing to do with theft. The service director who worked that case is still here, still running the service department, and would run it exactly the same way tomorrow.
Order the internet circuit the week the lease is signed. Carriers take six to twelve weeks. Nothing else on a move fails as often.
The relocation checklist Did you knowA backup that has never been restored is a hope, not a plan. Ask for the date of the last tested restore.
What to actually testQuestions people ask about this
Would this work for us?
It depends on what is installed and how the machine is used. It is one of several reasons managed devices are worth the licence, and it is not the main one. Encryption and remote wipe matter more.
What actually protects the data on a stolen laptop?
Full disk encryption, so the drive is unreadable outside your control, and the ability to revoke that device's access centrally. Recovery is a bonus. Not being readable is the requirement.
How long ago was this?
Well over a decade. We tell it because the same people are still here to tell it.
"Thank you for all your help Jamie! We did end up having a funeral for the printer. Only two people attended."
Kerri, Koko OrthodonticsMeet Jamie- A technician who knows your setup takes every request. Not a dispatcher, not a queue.
- Every closed ticket is surveyed and a partner reads every response.
- 99.5% of surveys come back positive.
- Family-owned since 2005. 21 years in the same corner of Wisconsin, not going anywhere.
"Thanks for the hard work. I was kept informed with regular updates until the concern was resolved."
Jeff, insurance brokerageWhat happens if a laptop walks out of your building?
There is a good answer and a bad answer, and it is decided long before the laptop goes missing.
Talk to a partnerTalk to a partner, not a sales script.
Tell us what is going on. A partner will call you back the same business day, look at what you have, and tell you honestly whether we are the right fit. No pricing pressure, no pitch deck.