Somebody I know had their laptop stolen last night. We had quite a few 'strangers' over last night, so they could have easily taken it. We even asked one guy, and he said that he did notice two laptops in our living room on the bookcases, but didn't take anything. Now, this guy was only in that room for about 5 minutes that I knew. He was high and drunk, so how could he possible know that there were two laptops, where they were, etc. He's sketch.
The laptop has a lot of information that could potentially ruin plenty of people's lives in the wrong hands. Is there anything we can do?

9/1/2007 4:07:08 PM

be more careful where you leave your laptop laying around. Nothing you can do at this point but learn from a mistake.

oh and they can't really use anything they find on the laptop to blackmail you without giving away who stole it.

[Edited on September 1, 2007 at 4:09 PM. Reason : fda]

9/1/2007 4:08:46 PM

when will the classifies ad appear?


Maybe the info will be posted on tww.

You shouldnt of made it so easy for people to find the info, you probably didnt even have a PW on it did you(the min you should of done)



[Edited on September 1, 2007 at 4:13 PM. Reason : w]

9/1/2007 4:11:19 PM

let me put this laptop full of sensitive information in my den.

let me invite strange people who are high and drunk over to my place.

your life sounds full of well-thought out choices.

9/1/2007 4:11:51 PM

probably pics of her giving a bj to her bf

9/1/2007 4:13:43 PM

False sense of faith in people. And they can use the information very easily without being traced. Not to mention my debit card's gone, but that could be my fault.

I didn't know if we could ask the police to double check on them. They were the only ones here.

9/1/2007 4:14:05 PM

this is getting better and better, were your panties also missing?

9/1/2007 4:16:12 PM

dunno if this is the right place but i have a laptop for sale

some people gave it to me at a party last night and well i don't have much use for it, so start the bidding

9/1/2007 4:22:03 PM

I am really crossing my fingers that mine is not one of the lives that can be ruined by anything on that laptop

How many people were over last night? If the suspect pool is small enough, call 'em, threaten 'em with calling the police, and if that doesn't work, follow through on your threat.

9/1/2007 5:04:20 PM

9/1/2007 5:21:14 PM

if you know or can get the names and addresses of everyone (not just the kid you think did it) that was there and give them to the police. Tell the cops it was stolen, and give them the info. of everyone that was there. That's really all you can do except maybe asking all of them if you can look through their houses. If you do that the only way to do it is just show up at their house... otherwise they'll have plenty of time to hide it or move it if they haven't already.

Have you ever been high, drunk, or both at the same time? Noticing a couple of laptops isn't that big of a deal... even if the kid was blackout when he left, was he in that state while in the kitchen. Even then he may still remember that part of the night fine.

Noticing that there were 2 and where they were kinda goes hand in hand unless you could only tell there were 2 if you moved one around or something. Even in that case he would still know there was at least 1 on the book case (and what's the etc.?). What he accomplished is done by mere mortals all the time, seeing something and remembering it. Sometimes we call this... an observation (and yes even if you're both high and drunk, it's by no means impossible).

And if you really believe that he couldn't have noticed them after just 5 minutes... how could he have stolen something he wasn't even aware of? Or are you suggesting one of his friends took it and told him the details?

[Edited on September 1, 2007 at 5:44 PM. Reason : .]

9/1/2007 5:42:49 PM

This is par0d0xe.

It was one of my laptops. Grumpy you are ok, no info on you except your name and phone number. The information on this laptop for for the state school board. It includes account numbers and about 2400 social security numbers of state government officials. Also it has a microsoft access database for about 4000 rocky mount nc employees. All of this plus some of my personal information is on it, which is not a big deal anymore. I just want you all to know that this is very important and is being traced but has not been online any today. I am offering a $200 reward if this happens to "show up" outside my door or such. Please let me know if anyone has seen it. It is an Acer Aspire 3680-2682 laptop that has been upgraded to max specs.

9/1/2007 6:01:08 PM

I'm glad to see those entrusted with other people's private personal information don't take it lightly.

O WAIT.

9/1/2007 6:24:54 PM

the laptop is secure, im not worried about that. I am only worried about loosing the information. We do not keep many backups of this info because of security issues. I do not take this lightly. I am only concerned with getting the laptop back, more specifically the hard drive if someone wants to mail it to me i will stop the investigation.

9/1/2007 6:32:07 PM

Quote :

"The information on this laptop for for the state school board. It includes account numbers and about 2400 social security numbers of state government officials."

You should be contacting someone to let them know about this. These people should know that a computer with their social security numbers, names, whatever else may be in the hands of criminals (certainly people who shouldn't have them).

Unless you think there's a chance you just misplaced it anything less would be very irresponsible.

9/1/2007 7:30:59 PM

I was at Radio Shack yesterday and I noticed they sold a little hide-away container that fits in a Laptop card slot. I thought, gee that's a great idea, if I hide my $$ in my Laptop then no one will think to steal it.

9/1/2007 8:13:14 PM

Quote :

"the laptop is secure"

lol, no it isn't.

9/1/2007 8:18:28 PM

the important information on the laptop is encrypted so im not worried about identity theft, just worried about all of the work that is now lost. I just want someone to give it back, no questions asked i promise.

9/1/2007 8:41:34 PM

I keep mine chained to the coffee table with one of those cable locks. It could still easily be stolen with some tools but your average druggie loser that comes to a party to steal shit is not gonna go through all that.

9/1/2007 11:14:10 PM

lol your a dumbslut for keeping that shit out during a party...GG!

9/2/2007 2:12:59 AM

sorry i got so drunk...i think it was the doubleshot that put me over the top...i'm not a big drinker...i owe you a few dog walks for my drunken douchebaggedness

9/2/2007 2:53:41 AM

this is why i love my drive encryption

9/2/2007 3:30:29 AM

if she reports it, she will most likely get fired once she explains that she was both drunk and high and let complete strangers do whatever they please in her apartment/house and had the laptop plainly visible screaming "take me, take me!!!".

[Edited on September 2, 2007 at 4:53 AM. Reason : w]

9/2/2007 4:52:39 AM

fucking christ. sounds like just plain stupidity.

9/2/2007 6:56:08 AM

this is unbelievable - katiencbabe, how do you know your laptop is secure? You have a really hard password at windows login? pfffft whatever - that can be bypassed by a rank amateur in 30 seconds

9/2/2007 8:36:36 AM

Quote :

"You should be contacting someone to let them know about this. These people should know that a computer with their social security numbers, names, whatever else may be in the hands of criminals (certainly people who shouldn't have them). Unless you think there's a chance you just misplaced it anything less would be very irresponsible."

Quote :

"We do not keep many backups of this info because of security issues."

If this is your idea of security consciousness....well....er....wow.

I'm not sure how I feel about the fact that our fine state government has seen fit to entrust you with personal information. Your level of concern doesn't seem to reach much beyond making a thread about it.

9/2/2007 10:14:52 AM

apparently you retards missed the part about the data itself being encrypted.

I know you are all incapable of understanding that, but being that he is more concerned about the loss of his work than someone hacking the information, I'd venture to say its pretty well encrypted.

9/2/2007 10:59:43 AM

i doubt it.

i didn't see him say that, but he's also in full-blown CYA mode so I wouldn't trust him if he did say it... he's already proven himself to not be trustworthy


[Edited on September 2, 2007 at 11:35 AM. Reason : s]

9/2/2007 11:24:56 AM

^^No, we 'retards' didn't miss the part about encryption, jackass.

I don't trust par0d0xe and neither should his employer when he says "the important information on the laptop is encrypted so im not worried about identity theft." He's demonstrated by his own actions that his security judgement is questionable. It's not like someone broke into his house and stole it--he left the laptop in the open and then invited strangers over to his house.

The the hard drive contains "a lot of information that could potentially ruin plenty of people's lives". Encrypted or not, you owe it to those people to let them know what happened. They can judge what actions to take or not take.

Statements like "All of this plus some of my personal information is on it, which is not a big deal anymore" really don't give me a lot of confidence either. Apparently he decided to cover his own ass (canceled credit cards, changes passwords, whatever), despite his claims that the laptop is locked down.

[Edited on September 2, 2007 at 11:31 AM. Reason : dammit i type too slow]

9/2/2007 11:30:48 AM

i can assure you that the data is encrypted. This is my laptop not Katiencbabe's. She had nothing to do with any of this, she merely wanted to make sure that she posted about it in case people have heard anything. The laptop did not have a logon password or anything like that but the files are on a seperate encrypted partition of the hard drive so im not worried about those, we only back them up once a month so i am a month behind on the work that i need now. She said it could ruin peoples lives but she didnt know about the security, just about what i do. The laptop was not left out in the open, it was on the top of my bookshelf with papers on it as well, i do not know how they saw it anyways. Katie was not high or drunk so i would appreciate it if you all would quit assuming things.

I really just want the stuff back, the laptop itself is cheap so i dont care as much about that. Could you all please just let me know if you find it and stop worrying about telling me its my fault and that it can be hacked. if someone finds it and brings it to me i will give them $200 no questions asked i promise. Thank you all for your help, maybe this will turn up somewhere.

9/2/2007 1:05:10 PM

^^ and ^^^

Like I said, retards. Neither of you know the truth, you are both speculating without any fucking information. You didn't read the thread, you ignored the pertninent parts, and then look like fucking fools as usual. No one who steals a fucking random laptop at a party is a) going to give a fuck about the information on it or b) going to have the skills or contacts necessary to unlock it. More than likely it's going to get formatted, cleaned and sold on craigslist in another town.

9/2/2007 1:36:17 PM

I guess I forgot the Noen factor...you know everything and everyone else is an ignorant retard. Your arrogance is pretty much even with OEPII1's.

Based on the information in this thread, which I did read, par0d0xe was careless with his shit and it got stolen. Unfortunately, it wasn't just his stuff; it was "information [...] for the state school board. It includes account numbers and about 2400 social security numbers of state government officials. Also it has a microsoft access database for about 4000 rocky mount nc employees." Yes, I would agree that more than likely nothing will happen. But that's not a guarantee, despite your condescending assurances to the contrary.

9/2/2007 1:47:21 PM

Quote :

"I guess I forgot the Noen factor...you know everything and everyone else is an ignorant retard. Your arrogance is pretty much even with OEPII1's."

^No you fucking retard, I do not know everything. Hence why I'm not making sensational claims about the severity of this event. And trying to stop you and Solinari from doing the same. None of us except paradoxe knows the situation. The thread is asking about the location and recovery of property, not some fucking philosophical debate about the security of its contents.

Yes I'm fucking arrogant at times.

Quote :

"Based on the information in this thread, which I did read, par0d0xe was careless with his shit and it got stolen. "

There is no information in this thread that you can base any reasonable conclusion from. You are making multiple baseless assumptions to get to your conclusion.

Quote :

"But that's not a guarantee, despite your condescending assurances to the contrary."

I'm not assuring anyone of anything. I'm saying none of us knows the fucking facts about it so quick fucking speculating without them. How fucking hard is that to understand? You don't make the situation any better by spewing your verbal diahrrea of assumptions and speculation.

9/2/2007 2:13:12 PM

I think we get your fucking point Noen.

9/2/2007 2:39:15 PM

9/2/2007 2:52:23 PM

I don't want to get caught up in this argument but;

Here is what's known from what has been posted in this thread:

A)A laptop was stolen
B)Said laptop had social security numbers and other personal info. of thousands of NC employees
C)The information is encrypted

Outside of thread:

A)Security numbers and other personal info. is sensitive and in the wrong hands can be used maliciously
B)Encryption is not a 100% guarantee


So,
There is, however remote, a chance that this information can/will be accessed and a chance that it will be used maliciously.

Considering this someone should be notified of the possibility of identity theft, however slim that chance is.

As far as the claim of parodoxe's irresponsibility... He was trusted with very sensitive data, encrypted but sensitive none the less.

The laptop he had this data on was stolen from his or someone else's house (apt, house boat, etc., don't want to assume too much) possibly by someone who was both drunk and high and may or may not be a college student. Probably not a career criminal and certainly not one with his/her best wits about them. Point being that it probably was a little too easily accessible (I mean, it was stolen after all).

Perhaps it would have been best for him to put the laptop somewhere in the house that only the people who lived there or close friends would go.

The data may very well be fine... they may reformat the drive and use it or sell it. They may not reformat the drive and use it or sell it. Even if the drive is reformatted, depending on how it's done, there's a possibility of some of that data being recovered. Being encrypted adds to the security, but doesn't guarantee anything.

The thing is that nobody really knows... and as Noen pointed out, people are just assuming things. For ex. people are assuming that the data will be unaccessible and therefore it's not necessary to contact anyone about this.

That is what really disturbs me. He seems, from his postings at least, to not acknowledge the possibility of this data being accessed and used maliciously. Or at least to not think there's a great enough chance to make it worth telling somebody. But, I think most people would agree that if there is the slightest possibility of the data being accessed and used then someone higher up should be notified.

Quote :

"i would appreciate it if you all would quit assuming things"

- par0d0xe

I imagine the people who's personal information was stolen would appreciate if you would stop assuming their information is fine and did the right thing.

Personally, I think you've already failed at that... so I've emailed the director of the school board as well as their lawyer with a link to this thread and told them that a laptop with thousands of NC employees personal information has been stolen.

If as you claim, it's not a big deal, I'm sure they'll look into it when they get the message on tuesday... find out that the encryption is so good that it's not worth a second thought... they'll reply saying "thanks" and nothing will come of it. But at least it will be the hands of others.

[Edited on September 2, 2007 at 3:32 PM. Reason : .]

9/2/2007 3:20:27 PM

wow you really are a douche

9/2/2007 3:39:57 PM

^^ since we are all apparently going to continue with these fucking stupid assumptions, let me make one to rebut yours.

MAYBE HE ALREADY NOTIFIED HIS OFFICE THAT THE LAPTOP WAS STOLEN. MAYBE HE JUST WANTS TO AVOID HAVING TO REDO A MONTH'S WORTH OF WORK.

Quote :

"Encryption is not a 100% guarantee"

That again, depends. And you are making yet ANOTHER baseless assumption. If he's using RC5 or RC6 for instance, it would take years of distributed effort to crack in. So there's your baseless response. Again we don't know, and calling attention to it is only going to heighten the possibility that the thief may realize what he has and make attempts to actually misuse the data.

[Edited on September 2, 2007 at 3:41 PM. Reason : .]

9/2/2007 3:40:59 PM

Quote :

" I'm saying none of us knows the fucking facts about it so quick fucking speculating without them."

This is The Wolf Web, right?

Quote :

"so I've emailed the director of the school board as well as their lawyer"

Shit just got for real.

9/2/2007 3:50:13 PM

Quote :

"I've emailed the director of the school board as well as their lawyer with a link to this thread and told them that a laptop with thousands of NC employees personal information has been stolen. If as you claim, it's not a big deal... they'll reply saying "thanks" and nothing will come of it."

hahahahaha owned

I guess if it isn't a big deal, after all, there's nothing to worry about right? I mean it was encrypted

9/2/2007 4:09:21 PM

gg, duro982

9/2/2007 4:16:56 PM

Quote :

"MAYBE HE ALREADY NOTIFIED HIS OFFICE THAT THE LAPTOP WAS STOLEN. MAYBE HE JUST WANTS TO AVOID HAVING TO REDO A MONTH'S WORTH OF WORK."

That's not really an assumption, you said maybe... you're not claiming either way so it's not an assumption. Perhaps this is why you keep accusing other of making assumptions.

I thought of it... I suggested he contact someone in an earlier post. what he replied with didn't suggest that he had contacted anyone, nor that he planned to, didn't necessarily suggest that he flat out wouldn't either. So maybe he did any way, maybe he had no intention to. But i figure better safe than sorry. If both he and I contacted someone... what's the problem?

And let's say it was an assumption on my part... it would have at least been an assumption in the best interest of the thousands of people who's sensitive data is not where it belongs.

Quote :

"That again, depends. And you are making yet ANOTHER baseless assumption. If he's using RC5 or RC6 for instance, it would take years of distributed effort to crack in. So there's your baseless response."

So first you tell me my claim, encryption is not a 100% guarantee, is baseless and then you go on to say that though it would take a couple of years of distributed effort the encryption could be cracked? Doesn't the last part of your statement support my claim that it can be cracked (even if it will take time and effort)?

Quote :

"Again we don't know, and calling attention to it is only going to heighten the possibility that the thief may realize what he has and make attempts to actually misuse the data."

You're right, these people may have been better off if par0d0xe never pointed out that his laptop had that information on it. But that again, is no guarantee. Better safe than sorry.

Quote :

"wow you really are a douche"

Just for thought (no need to answer unless you really want):
What if the personal info of one or more of your family members/friends was on there, or yours for that matter... would you still feel that I'm douche for notifying people who can make the right decisions regarding the matter?

9/2/2007 4:18:11 PM

Quote :

"So first you tell me my claim, encryption is not a 100% guarantee, is baseless and then you go on to say that though it would take a couple of years of distributed effort the encryption could be cracked? Doesn't the last part of your statement support my claim that it can be cracked (even if it will take time and effort)? "

That was for a 56 and 64 bit key, respectively. the latter took the entire distributed.net community a long fucking time to break. No one uses anything less than a 128bit key, with anyone I know using rc5/rc6 using 256bit keys. Which would take the entire collective of computing power on earth years to crack.

So yes, it could potentially be a 100% guarantee. Because for anyone to amass that much computational power would be recognized by the larger populace and would be arrested long before breaking the cypher.

But more likely (again since we are making assumptions here) it's using AES. Which isn't as strong, but still several thousand years to brute force with today's technology, still effectively 100% guaranteed.

Seriously, quit being a fucking retard. It does NO good to make it some sensational story when you don't know the details. It has the potential to cause a lot of ignorant and stupid people to cause all kinds of hell for the agency, costing us as taxpayers far more than it should.

[Edited on September 2, 2007 at 4:39 PM. Reason : .]

9/2/2007 4:36:04 PM

Incase you aren't aware, which you obviously aren't.. there are many, MUCH easier ways to get all of the same info about all of those people. The morons that stole a laptop aren't going to know what to do with it and, without this thread, would have never had a clue to even try to get into whatever encrypted partition the owner claims to have.

So, basically, I really wouldn't care. Everybody is over reacting, especially you. It wasn't your business to start emailing lawyers.

9/2/2007 4:38:03 PM

^^ that's good and all, not disputing it what so ever. And this is part of why i said i didn't want to get into that argument... neither you nor I know how the disc was encrypted. It could be something that is extremely difficult to break as you've suggested, but it could also be something simple. He hasn't said, so I considered all possibilities.

I know enough of the facts to know there is potential for harm. So I notified administrators for the school board. I really just copy and pasted what par0d0xe had posted. I added nothing to it. So if anything seemed sensational it was in the words he chose. I haven't gone back and read through my posts but I don't remember saying much other than essentially that the right thing would be to notify some one and not to just assume the information is safe. It may very well be safe, but it may not. HOPE FOR THE BEST, PLAN FOR THE WORST.

^ no, i am aware that there are many ways to get such information for many people. You may very well be right in saying it's an over reaction. But that may be better than not enough of a reaction. And I acknowledge that sometimes an over reaction is worse than an under reaction, but I felt in this situation that wouldn't be the case for those with information on the laptop.

I respect that you wouldn't care if you're info. was on there. But I also respect those he would care. As far as it not being my business... he made it public when he posted it here.

I've said what i have to say and what's done is done.

9/2/2007 5:09:34 PM

You still dont understand that public disclosure can cause just as much, if not more, harm than the actual theft of the laptop. Especially if you sent it to the wrong person. It's not your jurisdiction to make a judgement on the appropriate action to be taken, just like it's not for any of us either.

9/2/2007 5:25:31 PM

lolol wow

Quote :

"Shit just got for real."

9/2/2007 5:39:44 PM

Quote :

"^ no, i am aware that there are many ways to get such information for many people. You may very well be right in saying it's an over reaction. But that may be better than not enough of a reaction. And I acknowledge that sometimes an over reaction is worse than an under reaction, but I felt in this situation that wouldn't be the case for those with information on the laptop."

So you're aware that this data that you're so concerned about could have been found by people using other sources anyways (i.e. making it not that valuable) and agree you're probably overreacting and still think it's your place to send this thread to a lawyer? wtf man

9/2/2007 5:45:15 PM

Leave it to TWW to get it's collective panties in a bunch over someone taking the ethical course of actions when others wouldn't out of fear, laziness, and self-interest.

9/2/2007 6:04:12 PM

I dont believe that duro emailed anything. How bout proof to tww that you did.

9/2/2007 6:07:40 PM