WEST VIRGINIA STOLEN COMPUTER RETURNED BACK TO CHURCH Burglars Break Into Church to Return Stolen Items Christianpost.com:

Burglars Break Into Church to Return Stolen Items

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (AP) - Burglars who stole thousands of dollars of equipment from the Guyandotte United Methodist Church apparently had a change of heart, breaking in the following night to return what they stole.

Thieves first jimmied the church's door locks Monday night and stole about $5,000 worth of sound and office equipment, church treasurer Rocky Frazier said. Then, they broke back the next night and returned everything.

"They taketh and the Lord giveth back," Frazier said Friday. "It's like there's a higher power at work."

Whatever the reason, they had a change of heart, said the Rev. Julia Bolling.

"It was either that, or our prayer for grace for them," she said.

The sound system, keyboard, computer - "It's all back," she said.


The only thing the thieves didn't return was about $22 in change, Frazier said.

Even though the equipment was returned and no real damage was done, Huntington Police Lt. Rocky Johnson said the investigation remains open.

"It's odd that they brought it back," said Johnson, noting that he's never seen anything like this. "I'm glad they did."

ONTARIO COMPUTER STOLEN BY EMPLOYEE TO CONCEAL FRAUD globeandmail.com: Daycare's former supervisor charged with theft of $115,000:

Daycare's former supervisor charged with theft of $115,000

A long-time former supervisor at a small, city-subsidized daycare centre in Parkdale faces multiple fraud-related charges in a series of thefts alleged to have netted more than $100,000.

Police said the money was stolen over a five-year period and that the lengthy investigation was complicated by the fact that the ex-supervisor removed a computer and files in efforts to conceal her tracks.

Charged with a total of 11 offences is 37-year-old Andrea Neblett, who worked at the Parkdale Beach Child Care Centre from May, 2000, until December, 2005.

Arrested Thursday, she appeared at College Park court yesterday for a bail hearing. She was released, subject to a series of conditions.

Parkdale Beach cares for roughly 50 children from the ages of 3 to 12, and is inside the Queen Victoria Public School near Jameson Avenue and King Street West. Messages seeking comment from the centre were not returned and as of yesterday afternoon, Ms. Neblett, a Toronto resident with children of her own, had not retained a lawyer.

She is accused of cashing and spending cheques made out to the centre and of twice falsely presenting draft financial statements as completed audits.

She is also alleged to have obtained several cellphones in the name of the centre and used them for personal business, and to have stolen a computer that kept track of the operation's finances.

"There was nothing left when she was gone, so this [investigation] involved starting from scratch, building up the list of creditors," said Detective Michael Kelly of the 14 Division fraud office.

Parkdale Beach is not the only Toronto daycare centre alleged to have been defrauded in the past year. Last month, police issued an arrest warrant for a 60-year-old man believed to be living in Nairobi, accusing him of siphoning a total of $755,000 from 21 child-care operations.

Det. Kelly emphasized there was no suggestion of wrongdoing involving the children under Ms. Neblett's supervision. "Everybody -- even the people who dislike her -- said, to a person, that she was fantastic with the kids," he said.

Parkdale Beach is not the sole fraud victim but is by far the largest, he said. The charges also allege Ms. Neblett defrauded an unnamed person who cashed some of the cheques and "is out a fair bit of money."
In all, police estimate the alleged theft totalled about $115,000 but they say the exact total may never be known because thus far she has not been forthcoming.

"She's chosen to wait for her trial to have something to say," Det. Kelly said.

VERMONT TO REVIEW COMPUTER SECURITY POLICIES State review finds no new Internet breaches:

State review finds no new Internet breaches

MONTPELIER, Vt. -- A preliminary review of the state's computer system has found no new security breaches of sensitive personal information stored on state computers, state officials said,

Gov. Jim Douglas ordered the review after disclosures in January that a state computer containing names, Social Security numbers and bank account numbers for nearly 70,000 people was broken into in a remote attack.

The state Department of Information and Innovation, working with a consultant, used tests to hack into the state's web applications and reviewed the security measures in place in all state departments and agencies.

"The penetration testing of the State's web applications have not exposed any vulnerability in the web-based systems," according to the report, issued Thursday. "Agency reviews of their security measures and applications have not uncovered any serious issues."

Department Commissioner Thomas Murray said the review uncovered a number of minor administrative concerns about which the state needs to be more diligent.

"There weren't any glaring concerns," he said.

Among the recommendations, the report advises the state:

_implement a more thorough process for system support, documentation and managing the impacts of changes in the system;

_implement a system of data access procedures that ensures the appropriate level of access to confidential data;

_strengthen its security policies and standards;

_set up new "demilitarized zones" the state's main computer network, Govnet, to allow key partners like the federal government access to some state systems while barring them from wide-open access to the network.

Murray said the many of these steps were under way.

Other changes include a new encryption policy, stepped-up employee training on security issues and annual audits with funding for new equipment hinging on problems being fixed.

Over the next few months all state departments and agencies will be asked to complete an inventory and risk assessment of their computer systems, he said. "All systems with confidential data will be required to submit a security plan and each system will be audited based on need and risk," the report said.

Douglas also has asked the department to create long-term protocols to strengthen the state's computer security.

Completing those steps could take up to a year, Murray said.

CONNECTICUT COMPUTER STOLEN FROM HOME The Connecticut Post Online - Robbery leads to drug charges:

-COMPUTER THEFT: A Dell laptop computer, valued at $2,000, was stolen from the bedroom of a house on River Lane in Fairfield sometime between Saturday and Monday.

COLORADO COMPUTER CONTAINING STUDENT DATA STOLEN FROM FACULTY MEMBER'S OFFICE 9NEWS - Article - Metro says 988 students at risk of identity theft:

Metro says 988 students at risk of identity theft

DENVER – Metropolitan State College says a laptop computer with the names and Social Security numbers of nearly 1,000 former students.

Metro State says it is working with both Denver and Auraria Campus Police after the computer was stolen on the afternoon of February 28th from a faculty member’s office on campus.

The computer contained roster information of 988 students enrolled in the faculty member’s classes from the beginning of the 1999 fall semester to the end of the 2002 fall semester. The computer was password protected, but Social Security numbers were used to identify each student.

Metro State says there is no evidence that personal data was actually taken off the computer or misused. However, the school is notifying each person whose name and Social Security number was on the computer and recommending they put a fraud alert on their credit reports.

There is also a special Web site for people concerned their information is at risk: www.mscd.edu/securityalert/.

In addition, there is a toll-free number at 1-866-737-6622 to answer specific questions.

MISSOURI COMPUTER STOLEN FROM LIBRARY The Maneater - Camera captures laptop theft ‘person of interest’:

Camera captures laptop theft ‘person of interest
By Elliot Njus, Crime Editor. Posted March 02, 2007.

The MU Police Department released several frames of surveillance footage showing a “person of interest” in a laptop computer theft entering Ellis Library.

The laptop was reported stolen Feb. 20.

The laptop’s owner was working in the second-floor study area of Ellis Library, MU police Capt. Brian Weimer said.

The student walked to the printer, leaving the computer unattended. Upon return, it was missing.

Police believe the theft took place between 7:30 and 8:15 p.m.

The time stamp on the photos reports the subject entered the library at 7:48 p.m.

Weimer said he could not release any additional investigative information at press time, but he said the person in the surveillance photos was not yet a suspect in the case.

“Maybe this guy has a legitimate reason for being there,” he said. “Right now, we’re just trying to identify the person.”

The Maneater crime blotter on Monday described the laptop as a white Apple MacBook laptop computer.

It is valued at approximately $1,600, making the theft a felony offense.

The surveillance photos were taken at the west entrance to the library, closest to Speaker’s Circle.

The two photos, taken one second apart according to the time stamps, show a front and a profile view of the subject.

The photos are available on the MU Police Web site along with contact information for investigators and ways to leave anonymous tips.

To prevent computer theft, MU Police offer laptop registration programs.

Locking computer security cables are available commercially, but Weimer said the most important step students can take to protect their property is to not leave it unattended.

“The most important thing is that you cannot leave stuff lying around,” he said. “It only takes a minute.”

Information and Access Technology Services spokesman Terry Robb said laptop theft can cause problems beyond the computer’s replacement cost.

“You might have personally identifiable information on your computer,” Robb said. “However, if you have password protection on your computer, and it’s hard password protection, it’s virtually impossible to get into it.”

ILLINOIS COMPUTER STOLEN FROM BUSINESS DAILY SOUTHTOWN :: News :: SE/S Police blotter:

A laptop computer, a computer bag and computer accessories were stolen Feb. 16 from Rapid Truck Service, 11959 Cicero Ave.

IOWA COMPUTERS STOLEN FROM HOMES DesMoinesRegister.com

2000 block of Meadowchase Lane, Feb. 19 - Three DVD players, three televisions, a computer, hundreds of DVD movies, three gaming systems, and a hand-held pellet gun all valued at more than $4,100 were reported stolen from a home.

2700 block of Fleur Drive, Feb. 21 - A computer worth $800 was reported stolen from a home.

600 block of 18th Street, Feb. 22 - A stereo, a computer, an end table, seven wine bottles and a framed cross stitch all valued at more than $1,450 were reported stolen from a home.

1400 block of Des Moines Street, Feb. 25 - Money and a computer both valued at more than $300 were reported stolen from a home.

NEW JERSEY COMPUTERS STOLEN FROM OFFICE http://www.gcnews.com/news/2007/0302/Community/026.html

Over $14,000 in computers and software was taken from a GC Plaza office between February 26 and 27..

NEW ZEALAND COMPUTERS STOLEN FROM AMERICAN SAMOA'S DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION RECOVERED American Samoa police recover stolen school computers:

American Samoa police recover stolen school computers

Posted at 22:09 on 01 March, 2007 UTC

Eleven computers missing from American Samoa’s Department of Education are alleged to have been sold to a private business.

The Samoa News reports today that a police investigation into the missing computers has revealed that they were sold to a private business and two DOE employees at the warehouse division have admitted they were involved in the sale.

The newspaper quotes unnamed sources as saying that at least seven warehouse employees were involved or have knowledge of the missing computers.

The computers, each costing over $1,000, were part of a 400 computer order for public schools and were paid for by a federal grant.

According to the Samoa News police found six of the missing machines at a local business.

WASHINGTON GOVERNMENT AGENCIES DOING A BETTER JOB AT SECURING THEIR COMPUTER SYSTEMS OMB report shows slight increase in IT security awareness (3/1/07) Government Executive:

OMB report shows slight increase in IT security awareness

Agencies are doing a better job measuring how secure their computer systems are, even as the number of systems grows, according to an annual report from the Office of Management and Budget released Thursday.

But the quality of the measurements, known as certification and accreditation, has remained mostly stagnant and even decreased in some areas, the 144-page report stated.

The portion of certified and accredited systems rose from 85 percent in fiscal 2005 to 88 percent in fiscal 2006, the report stated. At the same time, the number of systems climbed from 10,289 to 10,595, a 3 percent increase. In fiscal 2002, only 47 percent of systems were certified and accredited.

The State and Homeland Security departments were most notable in their improvement in the latest report. Thirteen agencies now report that all their systems are certified and accredited.

"Agencies continued to make progress securing government systems this past year, but we still have more to do to secure our information," said Karen Evans, OMB administrator of e-government and information technology. "Our goal is to secure 100 percent of our systems."

The report covered fiscal 2006 -- a period marked by a spike in the number of highly publicized incidents where personal information stored on government computers was vulnerable to fraud or other misuse. A May 2006 breach at the Veterans Affairs Department left sensitive data on more than 26.5 million people at risk, for instance; officials ended up recovering that information.

According to OMB, 15 agencies reported 338 security incidents involving personally identifiable information over the course of the fiscal year. VA confirmed 446 security incidents internally, of which 91 were reported to law enforcement officials. But the VA inspector general found that the quality of the department's certification and accreditation process was poor, the OMB report stated.

Certification and accreditation is a key component of the federal government's computer security law, the 2002 Federal Information Security Management Act. The law requires agencies to determine the level of security needed for particular systems based on the potential implications of a system failure or breach. They need to do this at least once every three years, and authorize the systems' continued use.

The number of agency inspectors general that rated the certification and accreditation process as "satisfactory" or better dropped from 17 in fiscal 2005 to 16 in fiscal 2006. The IGs rating the process as "poor" or failing increased from eight in fiscal 2005 to nine in fiscal 2006.

In fiscal 2006, agency officials tested security controls on 88 percent of all systems, up from 61 percent in fiscal 2005. They also tried out contingency plans for 77 percent of all systems, up from 72 percent in fiscal 2005.

Doubts have been raised as to the effectiveness of FISMA, with critics stating that it is little more than a paperwork exercise. But OMB officials have said the law needs more time before it can be judged.

Alan Paller, director of research at the SANS Institute, a nonprofit cybersecurity research organization in Bethesda, Md., said the OMB report is misleading because it does not measure the actual security controls implemented by agencies. He said the FISMA requirements are "extremely wasteful -- to the point of scandalous abuse -- because the money that should be spent on securing systems is being given instead to contractors who write reports that are never read."

Of the 10,595 government systems in fiscal 2006, 1,207 were managed by a contractor or another outside organization, the report stated. A majority of agency IGs -- 18 out of 24 -- found that agency oversight of contractor-operated systems was frequent. The remaining six, however, said oversight was rare.

David Link, chief executive officer and founder of ScienceLogic, a Reston, Va., IT management firm, said he was impressed by how far agencies have come. Agency scores in the report "look pretty good in comparison to their counterparts on the commercial side," he said.

In related news, OMB also released its annual report to Congress on the benefits of e-government Thursday.

OHIO SUBCONTRACTOR GUILTY OF COMPUTER THEFT FROM SCHOOL Subcontractor guilty of theft from Mason Heights Elementary:

Subcontractor guilty of theft from Mason Heights Elementary

A Cleves man pleaded guilty Thursday to one count of theft for stealing $1,700 worth of computer equipment from Mason Heights Elementary School.

Thomas J. Lind, 42, was working as a subcontractor fixing pipes after school hours on Nov. 1 when he took a laptop, a docking station, a hard drive and a laptop case, according to Warren County Prosecutor Rachel Hutzel.

Ohio Department of Education spokesperson Karla Carruthers confirmed that the school district would not have had to subject Lind to a background check if he wasn?t working around children. However, school district spokesperson Tracy Carson said all subcontractors are subject to background checks.

Lind will be sentenced in about a month. He faces up to a year in prison.

Contact this reporter at (513) 696-4525 or dcallahan@coxohio.com.

IRELAND COMPUTERS STOLEN FROM HEALTH TRUST Computers Stolen in Raid - Technology - RedOrbit

Computers Stolen in Raid

THIEVES have stolen 65 computers during a raid on a health trust, police said yesterday.

Dell PCs and laptops were seized from a container at the back of the premises in Ballymena, Co Antrim.

Printers were also taken by the robbers, who broke into Homefirst Community Trust on Greenmount Avenue last night.

All of the equipment was still in boxes, and police estimated it was worth more than pounds 40,000.

Investigating detectives warned the public to be wary if anyone offers these types of computers.

A PSNI spokesman said: "Dell only sells directly from its own store and does not have retail outlets.

"An offer to buy new Dell equipment from any other source should be treated with caution."

(c) 2007 Daily Mirror. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.

Story from REDORBIT NEWS:
http://www.redorbit.com/news/display/?id=856864

Published: 2007/03/01 08:08:57 CST

© RedOrbit 2005

CALIFORNIA DEVELOPING BEST PRACTICES TO COMBAT IT THEFT Technology News: ID Security: Developing Best Practices to Combat ID Theft, Part 1

"According to the Federal Trade Commission, identity theft accounts for almost 40 percent of all fraud complaints," Absolute Software CEO John Livingston told the E-Commerce Times. "With the popularity of mobile technologies such as laptop computers, people are more prone than ever to having their personal information stolen."

Currently, identity theft may be the most worrisome and threatening problem for online users and the businesses and institutions that support them.

Unfortunately, it is now easier and cheaper than ever for those bent on illicit gain to use the Internet to obtain the private, personal information necessary to impersonate you online -- the first step for cybercriminals to gain access to your financial information.

"Online identity theft is going to grow significantly given the millions of records that have been lost or stolen from banks, credit agencies, hospitals, government agencies and businesses over the past year," said Randy Abrams of online security and malware detection systems provider ESET.

The good news is that banks, brokerages and financial services providers, along with the security technology providers that service them, are rolling out a variety of new methods and tools to thwart such threats.

A Growing Problem

Some 10 million Americans have been victims of identity theft and they spent an average of US$1,500 and 175 hours to recover from it, according to the Fight Identity Theft site. Moreover, victims spent nearly 250 million hours trying to sort out fake credit card accounts and set their credit records straight, according to the U.S. Treasury.

"As more and more people take advantage of the convenience of online banking and e-commerce, the pool of potential victims of fraudsters increases in size and volume," Greg Hughes, chief security executive at Corillian, told the E-Commerce Times.

"This presents more opportunity for criminals to take advantage of users, not only through technology like malware and other forms of technical fraud, but also through the evolution of social engineering," he said.

"There is simply a greater variety of people and a greater number of people (and therefore dollars) for fraudsters to target. In addition, the increased complexity and variety of systems in the marketplace present a ripe environment for finding new holes and creating new forms of trickery," noted Corillian.

An Act of Simple Theft

The first steps online fraud artists take to perpetrate ID theft and online fraud often occur offline, however, through more run-of-the-mill petty crimes such as pick-pocketing and mail theft, as well as more serious felonies such as burglary -- and, of course, the theft of notebooks, laptops and other portable network devices.

"According to the Federal Trade Commission , identity theft accounts for almost 40 percent of all fraud complaints," Absolute Software CEO John Livingston told the E-Commerce Times. "With the popularity of mobile technologies such as laptop computers, people are more prone than ever to having their personal information stolen."

Common acts of online fraud resulting from ID theft include the following:

• Unauthorized transactions on existing accounts (e.g., unauthorized charges on a credit card or checks on a checking account);
• Takeover of existing accounts (e.g., prolonged use or emptying of a financial account); and
• Creation of new accounts

A 2006 Ponemon Institute report stated that 81 percent of companies reported the loss of one or more laptops containing sensitive information during the past 12 months, according to Absolute Software.

More than 600,000 laptop thefts occurred in 2004, totaling an estimated $720 million in hardware losses and $5.4 billion in theft of proprietary information, claimed Safeware Insurance.

In order to help thwart the theft of mobile computers and associated data, Dell Computer (Nasdaq: DELL) and Absolute on Feb. 7 announced that buyers of select Dell Inspiron and XPS notebooks who purchase Dell's CompleteCare Accidental Damage Service will get Absolute's Computrace LoJack for Laptopstheft recovery service gratis for the length of their service contracts.

The Computrace LoJack system protects personal data on the system, as well as helps track down and recover the computer.

Not So Simple Theft

Online fraud artists have also come up with increasingly devious, complicated ways to obtain personal ID information. "The tactics fraudsters have developed to target end users are extensive and are evolving," commented Corillian's Hughes. "From complex social engineering in the form of phishing and similar tactics to purely technical exploits like man-in-the-middle, man-on-board, Trojans and malware.

"All of these are deployed -- and are often combined -- to carry out the gathering of information to gain unauthorized access to a user's private information or, in some cases, to create identifying documents and other physical media such as duplicate debit and credit cards for the purposes of conducting fraud andtheft."

One of the more common, simple and effective means to obtain personal ID data is through the use of spam, noted Kaspersky Lab's senior technical consultant Shane Coursen. "Today's most common method is to send spam messages to a large number of e-mail addresses (a.k.a. a spam run). The spam message refers to a Web site that, once visited, begins a process of placing malware of various types (downloaders, keyloggers, bankers, etc.) on the visiting PC."

Another tried, true and growing method is the insider attack. "It's not a new method but one that seems to be increasing in frequency," said Coursen. "For example, a malicious person attacks their own company by tricking a fellow employee into installing malware, or by bending company policies that result in the installation of malware. It is a troubling trend."

UK COMPUTER STOLEN FROM SCHOOL South Durham News in Brief - Technology - RedOrbit

Computer stolen by school burglars
A LAPTOP computer and a wireless adapter were stolen from a primary school in Teesdale. The burglary happened at Butterknowle Junior and Infant School over the weekend. Barnard Castle police believe the thieves may try to sell the Toshiba laptop, and are appealing to anyone who is offered one, or anyone who has information, to contact them on 0845-60-60-365 or Crimestoppers on 0800-555111.

MINNESOTA COMPUTERS STOLEN FROM UNIVERSITY & RESIDENCE Burglar ransacks Southeast residence - Minnesota Daily:

A suitcase full of clothes turned into a burglar's bag of loot early Friday in the Southeast Como neighborhood.

Asian languages junior Will Rajkowski said he came home from work at Mariucci Arena around 1:30 a.m. to find that someone had rummaged through his drawers and stolen his laptop, a pair of Bose speakers and an external hard drive.

He said the burglar emptied Rajkowski's clothing-filled suitcase, stuffed the gadgets inside and left with the whole bundle.

Amelia Huffman. Police didn't find any damage and the burglar failed to leave behind any physical evidence that could be used to track him, police said.

Rajkowski said nothing else was taken from the house, including from his roommates' rooms on the lower level and the living room.

The case has not been assigned to an investigator, but the laptop's serial number was added to a database which tracks stolen items in case they are sold in pawn shops, Huffman said.

Three laptops vanish

In the past week, at least three laptops were stolen from University buildings. Two of them are University property.

Sometime overnight Feb. 22, someone stole a laptop from an office in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science building on campus, according to a police report.

The door had been locked, but no evidence of it being forced open was found, police said.

The computer's serial number and any possible suspect information will be needed for further investigation, said Steve Johnson, deputy chief of University police.

Between Friday and Monday, a second laptop was stolen from the same building.

Associate professor Heiko Jacobs said the laptop is usually stored in a locked office. He said sometimes he would leave the office for short periods of time, leaving the door unlocked, but didn't notice the computer was gone until Monday.

Jacobs said he doesn't store sensitive material on the computer and everything on the hard drive is under fingerprint-based encryption.

"It's very hard to use," he said. "You'd have to reformat everything."

Nothing ties the two thefts together in a concrete way, but their proximity and timing suggests they might be related, Johnson said.

A personal laptop disappeared from an office in Cooke Hall on Friday evening, according to a police report.

Police said the victim left the office and locked the door. When the person returned, the door was still locked, but his computer was missing.

Many people who work with the victim have access to his office with a key, but he doesn't suspect his co-workers would steal the laptop, Johnson said.

Investigation into the theft is inactive, but police entered the computer's serial number into monitoring systems, Johnson said.

'It's surprising,' he said, referring to crime in the Dinkytown area. 'It's getting worse and worse.'

Rajkowski said his laptop had a couple rough drafts of papers he was working on and about 7,000 songs. He had the data backed up on an external drive, but the thief stole that as well, he said.

'I lost the majority of my music,' he said. 'So I'm back to the stereo and CD player right now.'

Many people were moving in and out of the house, and it was unclear whether the front door was locked at the time of the incident, said Minneapolis Police Lt."

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GREECE COMPUTERS STOLEN ekathimerini.com | Police tread lightly in Exarchia:

Police tread lightly in Exarchia

High-ranking police sources admitted to Kathimerini yesterday that the force is not pursuing suspected criminals in the Exarchia area of Athens because of fears that they will antagonize anarchists involved in protests against university reforms.

The admission came after a gang of 12 hooded thieves armed with a gun and Molotov cocktails held up a computer store in the area late on Tuesday and stole 21 laptops.

Police said that the gang arrived at the store on George Street after setting off from Exarchia Square. Five of the suspects allegedly entered the shop and threatened customers and staff with a handgun and petrol bombs.

After swiping the computers and some accessories, the robbers threw one of the Molotov cocktails at the store.

Police sources indicated that the robbers then sought refuge in a cafeteria near Exarchia Square where they hid the stolen items.

Kathimerini understands that officers did not act on this information because they feared that a heavy police presence in Exarchia, a hangout for self-styled anarchists, could exacerbate the situation ahead of another protest against education reforms tomorrow.

Some previous rallies have been marred by violence between anarchists and riot police.

However, officers are concerned that criminals will take advantage
of the standoff and target other stores and banks.

They think that the gun brandished by one of the robbers on Tuesday night was likely a service revolver that had been stolen from a policeman who was attacked by anarchists outside the offices of the GSEE union in December.

Police are also worried about the recent rise of violent attacks by anarchists.

MINNESOTA COMPUTERS STOLEN FROM COMPANY St. Paul Pioneer Press | 03/01/2007 | Police Calls: Eagan:

Burglary:
Someone entered General Resource Technology, 2978 Center Court, and stole two laptop computers, it was reported Feb. 16.

US IT PROFESSSIONAL DISCUSSES PROTECTING COMPUTERS AGAINST THEFT Protecting Against Computer Theft In Vista (Part I) ~ IT Professionals

When securing our computers, we focus a lot of our attention on configuring a firewall and setting permissions. However, many people overlook the possibility of computer theft and forget to take precautions against this type of attack. Yet, once a malicious user steals your computer, they can move the hard drive into another computer and gain access to all your data.

Microsoft has recognized that its customers must be able to protect their sensitive data residing on client computers in the event of theft. In response to this, Microsoft has included four technologies in Vista that are specifically designed to protect against data theft.

These technologies include:

• Rights Management Service (RMS)
• Bitlocker Drive Encryption
• Encrypting File System
• Device Control

Rights Management Service
Vista includes a Rights Management Service client. RMS is designed to protect against data theft by encrypting information, such as Word documents and e-mail, so only those authorized can access it.

This technology is more complex to implement than the other technologies listed above because of the requirements:

• RMS server - Windows Rights Management Services for Windows Server 2003
• RMS client
• RMS platform or application

In the next installment of this article, we’ll look more closely at the Bitlocker Drive Encryption. This is a technology that does not have as many requirements as RMS and is something that most users can implement.

TENNESSEE COMPUTERS STOLEN FROM SCHOOL NewsChannel 5.com Nashville, Tennessee - Vandals Hit Donelson-Area Schools:

Vandals hit several Metro schools causing plenty of damage and stealing thousands of dollars worth of equipment.

Stanford Elementary Montessori Design Center in Donelson was hit over the weekend.

Stanford Montessori Principal Melva Stricklin said she felt disappointed, heartbroken and angry Monday morning when she discovered the vandalism.

'I can't explain how it makes you feel...you feel violated,' Stricklin said. 'All of the windows had the locks popped on them.'

Over the weekend thieves broke into the school and stole 11 computers.

'They were more valuable to us than whoever took them, I'll tell you,' Stricklin said.

Stanford wasn't the only Donelson-area school that has been hit. Since December, vandals have broken into Pennington Elementary four times and McGavock Elementary three times.

Metro Schools Director of Safety and Security Steve Keel said in most of the cases the crooks broke into portable units taking electronic equipment and leaving behind plenty of damage.

'Police reports have been filed in the matters and they're investigating also,' Keel said.

Keel said it appeared as though the same culprits may be committing the crimes. The district planned to beef up patrols and install new security systems at the schools.

Stricklin wished the vandals would realize who

they're really harming -- the children.

"I just hope that somebody out there somewhere will just stop and think about what this does," Stricklin said.

She also said he wasn't sure if the school would be able to replace the stolen computers, which means the kids could miss out.

She hoped the extra security measures would help.

District administrators are working closely with Metro investigators on the case.

Anyone with information on the break-in's is urged to call police.

ILLINOIS STOLEN COMPUTERS RECOVERED BY POLICE DURING RAID DAILY SOUTHTOWN :: News :: Oak Forest house raided by federal agents:

Oak Forest house raided by federal agents
Part of a stolen-goods investigation

February 28, 2007

Staff writers William Lee and Jim Hook

It’s not everyday David Giancarlo is jolted from his seat, but that’s what happened today when he heard federal and local authorities raid a neighbor’s home in Oak Forest.

“The noise was loud as hell,” he said. “It sounded like it was on the front porch.”

What Giancarlo and a number of other neighbors in the 6100 block of Victoria Drive heard about midday was authorities using “flash bang” grenades as they entered a split-level home.

Neither the home’s single occupant nor the dozens of federal, state and local law enforcement officers were injured in the raid, authorities said.

Oak Forest police and the South Suburban Emergency Response Team assisted U.S. Secret Service agents who were serving a warrant. The warrant was for receiving a shipment of stolen goods, Oak Forest Police Chief Dennis Olszewski said.

A man inside, believed to be the person named in the warrant, was taken into federal custody, the chief said.

Officials from both the Secret Service Chicago field office and the U.S. attorney’s office declined to comment Wednesday, saying the investigation was ongoing.

Olszewski referred further questions to the federal authorities. The chief said he was pleased the operation went without problems.

“Everything was as smooth as silk,” he said.

The event was a major spectacle for normally quiet residential block.

Witnesses saw about 30 federal, state and local law enforcement officers — some dressed in camouflage with their faces covered — converge on the home.

Most conducted searches of the home, while others combed through the contents of a black Mercedes S 320 sedan parked in the driveway. Officers took away computers and several bags of evidence.

Giancarlo called the incident near his fiancee’s home “unsettling,” but said he had to it check out.

“I’m getting married in two months and I’m moving here right after the wedding,” he said. “I heard the noise and I wanted to see what was going on.”

Another neighbor who watched the raid unfold said she was always leery of the residents of the home.

“We had a suspicion something was going on over there,” said the neighbor, who asked that her name not be used. “They moved in two years ago — at 10 o’clock at night.

“The curtains were never open in two years. They held loud parties every weekend, and the driveway and street were filled with Mercedes-Benzes, BMWs and Lexuses,” she said. “And they were all men.”

The woman said she walked out of her back yard shortly after hearing the explosions and was met by a SWAT officer who ordered her back into her house.

“That was scary. That’s the kind of stuff you see on television, not next door,” she said.

She said one of the men who lived in the house once told her he sold computers on eBay.

“I don’t know what they were doing,” she said. “I just hope they aren’t coming back.”

IDAHO COMPUTERS STOLEN BY EX COOLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYER KTVB.COM | Boise, Idaho News, Weather, Sports & Traffic | IDAHO NEWS:

Former Bronco Dennis Ellis arrested

BOISE – A former Boise State football player will be arraigned today on grand theft charges.

Dennis Ellis, 23, of Boise, turned himself into the Ada County Jail yesterday after Boise Police issued a warrant for his arrest charging him with two counts of felony grand theft.

Boise Police spokeswoman Lynn Hightower told NewsChannel 7 that Ellis confessed to detectives that he stole two laptop computers from the BSU football office last year.

Hightower says the first laptop was stolen in Jan. or Feb. 2006; and the second laptop taken in Nov. 2006.

The first computer was sold to a local pawnshop, and that's where police tracked it down by its serial number. The laptop was pawned by a transient, who reportedly had no connection to Ellis.

The computer was later returned to the BSU football office. That’s where staff members discovered photos of Ellis on the computer’s hard drive.

Detectives found Ellis and interviewed him. Hightower says that’s when he confessed to stealing the laptops.

Ellis said he took the second computer and the first one was stolen from him.

Ellis was the starting defensive tackle for the Broncos this past season and just completed his senior year. He played in Boise State’s Fiesta Bowl win over Oklahoma.

He now faces up to 14 years in prison for each grand theft count.

OKLAHOMA COMPUTER STOLEN FROM SCHOOL The Enid News and Eagle, Enid, OK - Drummond school patrons offer reward for stolen items:

Drummond school patrons offer reward for stolen items
By Tippi Rasp Staff Writer

DRUMMOND — A group of local school patrons has pooled a $500 reward for information leading to the arrest of a suspect or return of equipment stolen from the school over the weekend.

Drummond Public Schools Superinten-dent Vic Woods said someone broke into the school’s agriculture building and took a laptop computer, digital camera, wire and stick welders, a plasma cutter and a torch kit.

The detached building sits on the west side of the school.

Someone pried open the door on the south side of the building. Although there was minimal damage to the door, the replacement cost for the stolen equipment is about $7,200.

“It creates a big problem financially for the school and for the students’ learning process,” Woods said. “They’ll be limited to what they can learn.”

He said he has turned the information about the theft into the insurance company, but it could take a while to receive a settlement.

“It’s an unexpected event that wasn’t figured into this tight budget,” Woods said.

Much of ag teacher Keith Dillingham’s curriculum was installed on the laptop, and he used it daily to teach.

“He was really bothered about the situation,” Woods said of Dillingham.

Woods said about 60 students are affected by the theft. He said he hopes the district can get by for the rest of the semester with two stick welders. When the fiscal year ends, he said, hopefully some of the equipment can be replaced.

“It really puts us in a world of hurt,” Woods said.

Garfield County Under-sheriff Jerry Niles said be-cause Woods was able to provide serial numbers for some of the equipment, it might help the investigation.

Woods said volunteers also have offered to check local and area pawn shops in hopes the equipment shows up.

MICHIGAN PERSONAL DATA LOSS GROWS Personal data loss grows but actual victims are few:

Personal data loss grows but actual victims are few

Potential for crime is still there, authorities warn, with nearly 73M people missing records.

Steve Lohr / New York Times

In the past year or so, the personal records of nearly 73 million people, from Social Security numbers to credit-card accounts, have been lost orstolen. The total is the equivalent of nearly one in four Americans.

But while high-profile data breaches are common, there is no evidence of a surge in identity theft or financial fraud as a result. In fact, there is scant evidence that identity theft and financial fraud have increased at all. Even when computer networks are cracked into, and troves of personal information intentionally stolen, fraudsters can typically exploit only a tiny fraction of it.

Credit-card fraud is the most common crime of identity thieves, accounting for about two-thirds of cases. Banks and credit-card systems like Visa and MasterCard say they have seen surprisingly little fraud traceable to incidents ofcomputer data lost or stolen.

"The threat of identity theft from data losses is being greatly exaggerated," said Fred H. Cate, the director of the Center for Applied Cybersecurity Research at Indiana University in Bloomington. "And that's because a lot of people have fallen into the trap of equating data loss with identitytheft."

There may be a longer-than-expected lag between data breaches and online crime, law enforcement authorities concede.

But all the personal information lost or stolen, they warn, is an ominous development. "We don't have the correlation to crime yet, but the potential is certainly there," said Raul Roldan, an FBI agent and section chief at the government's Internet Crime Complaint Center.

"Look at the crime on the Internet," Roldan said. "Most all of it is initiated by misusing identity information to disguise, mislead or impersonate someone else" -- from pornography to phishing, a fraud that usually involves using phony e-mail messages or Web sites to get a person's bank account or credit-card numbers.

One explanation as to why there has not been more crime, some computer security experts say, is that the volume of personal information lost or stolen might not have increased much over the past year or two. What has changed, they contend, is the attention given to data breaches.

"What's happened in the last 18 months is not an explosion in data loss and data theft," said Mark Rasch, a former Justice Department prosecutor who is now a legal consultant in Bethesda, Md., specializing in computer security. "It's an explosion of laws requiring notification of data loss."

Identity theft is not predominantly a computer crime, at least not yet. The most common forms of data loss, surveys say, are lost or stolen credit cards, wallets or checkbooks. In most cases, identity thieves are family members, relatives, neighbors and co-workers. It seems that toxic social networks -- not leaky computer networks -- are the real hazard.

"Even if you solve the data breach problem, you will solve only a small part of the identity theft problem," said Mike Cook, a co-founder of ID Analytics, a San Diego company that provides fraud-detection services to banks, cellphone operators and other companies.

Yet Cook, like other security experts, predicts a looming problem as more commerce moves to the Internet, a virtual marketplace of faceless transactions and instant credit.

Data breaches vary considerably, and so does the risk that financial fraud or identity theft may result. Customer or employee records on a computer disk or tape that have simply been lost in shipment -- fallen off a truck, for example -- are at little risk, computer security experts note.

Visa and MasterCard report that about 2 percent of the card accounts lost or stolen in the past 18 months have been used to make fraudulent purchases. That is within the range of the 1.5 percent and 4 percent of consumers who reported being victims of financial fraud or identitytheft, surveys say.

ILLINOIS COMPUTERS STOLEN Gunmen rob Roosevelt Road restaurant:

Sometime during the day Feb. 20 someone removed four 4-by-12-inch window panes from a 'Jalousie' style window on a house in the 900 block of South Lombard Avenue. A digital camera, laptop computer, miscellaneous jewelry and a passport were stolen. Total loss was $2,200.

A laptop computer valued at $2,500 was stolen from an unlocked 2004 Buick LeSabre parked in the West Suburban Hospital parking lot early on the morning of Feb. 20.

Daniel B. Stallings, a student at Concordia University, was arrested the afternoon of Feb. 23 after a consensual search of his dormitory room allegedly turned up a laptop computer and other items stolen in a Feb. 16 burglary of the school's library.


Someone pried the entry door of a suite of offices in the 1500 block of Harlem Avenue between Feb. 19 and Feb. 25. Four laptop computers and two hard drives, valued in total at $2,199, were stolen.

FLORIDA COMPUTERS STOLEN FROM SUITE Police Blotter:

A man entered an unlocked suite in the 900 block of North Federal Highway and took three laptop computers. When he was confronted, the man dropped the stolen laptops and his cellphone, and fled.

FLORIDA COMPUTER STOLEN FROM GULF COAST MEDICAL CENTER WMBB - TV | Gulf Coast Med. Computer Theft

BAY COUNTY, Fla.-While no identity cases have surfaced yet, the threat has. Gulf Coast Medical Center announced Tuesday, 1200 patient had personal information stolen. The information was in a computer that went missing in Nashville, TN in November.

Rod Whiting with Gulf Coast Medical Center says no one has come forward with identity theft problems thus far.

Gulf Coast did implement a new security system for laptop computers close to a year ago. Each laptop comes equip with a lock to secure the laptop.

UK COMPUTERS STOLEN FROM IT CENTRE £5,000 raid on IT centre: Shropshire Star

Thieves smashed their way into a Shropshire community centre and stole £5,000 of computer equipment - just four days after its new internet facility opened.

Dozens of people turned out to Clee Hill Recreation Room on Saturday for the launch of the new Broadplace centre, which provides people with a high speed internet connection.

But last night thieves broke into the building and stole all six laptop computers, a projector and other associated equipment.

KANSAS COMPUTERS STOLEN FROM BUSINESS The Hutchinson News, Hutchinson, Kan., | Regional News:

Crime Stoppers seeking info on Dodge City theft

DODGE CITY - Crime Stoppers of Dodge City is offering a reward for information leading to the arrest of people responsible for the burglary and theft of property from Colortyme Rental.

Between 11 a.m. and 1:15 p.m. Feb. 18, unknown suspects entered the store at 1900 North 14th, Suite D.

The following items were taken: Mitsubishi 52-inch LCD television, Dell desktop computer model 1300, Sylvania DVD/VCR combo, JVC DVD/VCR combo, 12-inch subwoofer and an E-machines desktop computer.

Anyone with any information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at (620) 227-7867 or 1-877-424-4414.

Crime Stoppers will not ask the caller's name."

FLORIDA POLICE SEEK PUBLIC'S HELP IN TRACKING DOWN COMPUTER THEFT RING Police Ask Public For Help After 60 Laptops Stolen - News

ORLANDO, Fla. -- More than 60 laptop computers were stolen from office buildings in downtown Orlando. Detectives believe they have an organized ring of burglars targeting local businesses.

Orlando police have been tracking the computer thefts for almost a year and are asking for the public's help to crack the case.

First, investigators want to know if anyone recognizes a man, whose surveillance image was released, believed to be a suspect in at least two of the cases. They also want to know if you've come across piles of laptops and who may be storing or re-selling them.

Building after building after building, at least 16 were hit in the last year. What's missing is more valuable than money. Stolen technology can paralyze a business.

"Just the information and the fact that people can't move forward with their business, because now they've got a huge disruption, so it affects everybody," said Sgt. Barbara Jones, Orlando Police Department.


A burglar took 33 computers from a law firm inside the AmSouth building in January. Another at the SunTrust building had nine stolen this month. Buildings have been hit all over Orlando.

A camera at the Day building captured a man walking out with nine laptops. They said he'd spent about 16 hours inside.

"They'll wait till the business closes and move around inside and, if the business isn't alarmed for motion sensors, you could stay in there forever," Jones said.

Police said the thieves may be after personal information. But many of the laptops have encryption devices and, because the power cords are also missing, the thieves are more likely targeting the computers themselves, possibly to sell outside the area, but there has to be a middleman collecting them locally.

"We just haven't found them anywhere, so that's one of the ideas. We think there's a group involved and they may be moving them," Jones said.

Police said there has to be several people who know about the operation. If you call Crimeline with information that leads to an arrest, you could be eligible for a thousand dollar reward. The number is 800-423-TIPS. You can also make an anonymous tip at their website.

INDIANA COMPUTERS DAMAGED AT INDIANA UNIVERSITY :

$40,000 in electronics damaged by vandals at Indiana U.
By Paige Ingram, Indiana Daily Student; SOURCE: Indiana U.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind.

About $40,000 in electronics were damaged Monday morning as part of a vandalism spree in Ballantine and Jordan halls, according to Indiana University Police Department reports.A professor reported the incident at 6:27 a.m. Monday. She told police she had entered Ballantine at about 5 a.m. and noticed haze in the air. She did not think it was serious enough to report at first, but eventually changed her mind, said IUPD Capt. Jerry Minger, reading from a police report. Once police arrived, they found damage on the main, first and second floors of the building.On the ground floor, the damage centered around Room 003, a lecture room that seats 76 students, according to the IU's Office of the Registrar. Inside the room, wires connected to a ceiling-mounted projector and workstation had been pulled out, and a touch panel had been gouged, according to the report.Outside of the room, a wall cabinet containing a fire extinguisher was broken and the extinguisher had been removed.Broken glass from a building directory listing hanging on the wall was also discovered outside of the ground floor student lobby. Inside the lobby, newspapers littered the floors, Minger said, reading from the report.Upstairs, on the first floor, more electronic equipment had been damaged.From outside of the building, officers noticed a broken window in Room 149, on the south side of the building. Along with glass,computer keyboards laid on the floor of the room, appearing to have been thrown through the window from the outside, Minger said, reading from the report. Two Macintosh kiosk computers were also vandalized near Room 104. A University Information Technology Services representative told Minger that these computers, which were added in the fall of last year, were not connected to any of the building's alarm systems. More damage was discovered on the second floor. From the ground up to the second, officers traced the chemical trails that they assumed were coming from fire extinguishers that had been taken from around the building, Minger said, reading from the report."Classroom 235 and 247 were completely dusted with dry chemical from the fire extinguishers," Minger said. A window in the door to Room 237 was also broken with some kind of blunt instrument, according to the report, but no chemicals were sprayed inside the room.While two of the three missing fire extinguishers were located in Ballantine Room 005, the other was spotted outside, on the footpath between Ballantine and Jordan Hall.Vandals also entered Jordan Hall, knocking over a trash can on the first floor of the building, Minger said. More consequential was an unplugged freezer found on the first floor. The freezer is supposed to be maintained at negative 70 degrees, and was warming up after losing power, Minger said. No information was available as to the damage of the freezer's contents."We assume this is the same person, but it is hard to say," Minger said, in response to the two similar crimes. "It may be someone who had a grudge against someone in Ballantine or Jordan."IUPD has more than a dozen photographs of physical evidence that it hopes will lead them to the vandal or vandals, Minger said.(C) 2007 Indiana Daily Student via U-WIRE

February 27, 2007

UK ADDRESSING DATA THEFT How do we tackle data theft? - 27/02/2007 - Electronics Weekly

How do we tackle data theft?

by David Holman

Tuesday 27 February 2007

USB sticks are very portable, making it easy to discreetly remove data from the work premises. Even more of a risk are cameras and MP3 players, which can effectively hold huge amounts of data and files that can be extracted from the network in minutes. What’s more, carrying a music player out of a work building attracts even less attention as a genuine personal accessory.

Indeed ‘pod-slurping’ as this latest threat is called where a computer programme is used to download vast amounts of corporate data to an iPod in a matter of minutes, is in its infancy but cannot be ignored as a serious risk for companies.

Risk of data theft
Clearly there are many technology devices available today that make data theft easier. There have been a number of instances over the years that have shown a boom in trading information obtained by deception. A number of organisations have been at risk from employees stealing personal details of bank accounts, tax returns and mortgage payments and selling this valuable data to competitors. Trading in such information can pose a huge threat to the business.

There have even been examples of some companies paying cleaners a fixed amount to download information on USB sticks, on the basis that at least a few of the sticks will contain useful data. Several recent high profile court cases have detailed where people are making a living by stealing personal data and selling it on by hacking into enterprise systems.

Accidental risk
These are all examples of malicious data theft, but the accidental loss of information is also of high risk to many companies. Some organisations provide employees with memory sticks to enable them to transport data – perhaps between work and home. Again, this may pose a potential risk if the USB stick contains sensitive company or customer information and is lost.

It can be argued that the risks are only as great as the possibility of someone losing the memory stick. Yet this obviously happens more often than one would suppose. Transport for London’s lost property office covers two entire floors beneath Baker Street Tube station and claims that it stores up to 40,000 forgotten items – iPods, phones and BlackBerrys – at any one time.

Identity theft on the increase
For the individual as well, data protection is becoming of increasing concern. Identity theft at the level closest to home occurs with personal details thrown away in discarded post. At a higher level is the potential risk that a system like the new NHS national patient record system highlights.

The new system will be loaded with patient data, whether the patient wants it or not. Indeed, the British Medical Association has expressed the view that the government should get the explicit permission of patients before transferring information to a central database.

With access to the system potentially by over 250,000 people, how secure will the data be? Clearly we cannot simply rely on personal morality to protect data, since many employees do not consider taking things from the workplace as stealing. It only takes a disgruntled or dishonest employee to expose an enterprise’s security weakness as they exploit data for their own gain.

Breaching copyright
Inbound data can also be a problem. Employees transferring files from home on a mobile device may not be aware there is also a security risk – possibly a Trojan file – that they inadvertently introduce to the corporate network. Also files transferred could include breach of copyright – such as music files or pirated software – posing a potential liability issue. In addition, the threat of litigation to an organisation that has lost personal information about an individual is driving organisations to think seriously about their approach to securing data.

Many call centres and government departments where sensitive information is accessed have taken to banning mobile devices. There have even been extreme examples noted where companies/organisations have poured superglue into USB ports to permanently disable them.

Addressing the security issues
Although these may appear to be drastic measures, they do highlight the need to secure data within the enterprise. Some of the big players in the IT industry, such as Microsoft, have recently entered the security arena.

Most notable is the launch of Microsoft’s new operating system Windows Vista which includes many new security features. This has certainly raised the profile of data security but there are also other specialist players in the market.

A port control solution is designed to secure a desktop or laptop computer from the introduction of unauthorised data (including software, music and graphical images), and from the accidental or malicious leakage of data via Plug and Play devices such as removable disk drives, MP3 players, and printers. Some of these solutions can even be managed through Active Directory, enabling companies to leverage existing IT investment.

These type of solutions give back control of data security to the ‘business’ so that it can be controlled centrally, enforcing the organisations’ policies on the end users. Groups of users can be set up on the system, so that each group is subject to the most appropriate level of security – for example a finance group may be able to access some data via a USB port, while a support department may never need to use data from the network and so the USB ports are effectively ‘locked down’.

Safeguarding data with encryption
There are also disk encryption solutions on the market which protect data on a computer’s hard disk. Again, the big IT players already provide some encryption software, although not yet widely adopted.

Full disk encryption transparently encrypts a computer's entire hard disk, automatically encrypting and decrypting data on the fly so that applications can be used as normal. If an unauthorised user attempts to access the hard drive directly, without going through the User Authentication process, the data remains encrypted and unusable. If the hard drive is later disposed of, any data it contains is unintelligible, even if specialist data recovery tools are used. It also provides removable media encryption, to protect data in transit on mobile devices such as USB memory sticks and floppy disks.

The next logical step
Fortunately as we have entered the digital world, so security of data has started to become of higher priority for organisations. The ability to store huge amounts of data digitally has brought many advantages in terms of storage capability and speed and ease of access. Now protection and security are the next logical steps and happily there are proven solutions available in the market that address the issues without resorting to superglue.

David Holman is CEO of BeCrypt

For more see Infosecurity Europe 2007 on 24th–26th April 2007at Olympia, London

GEORGIA COMPUTERS STOLEN FROM BANK OF CYPRUS :


Young thief nabbed

A 17-YEAR-OLD boy was arrested in connection with a spate of robberies in the Paphos district, while his 19-year-old accomplice remains at large, police said yesterday.

The 17-year-old allegedly confessed that he and his friend were responsible for 39 break-ins in the Paphos district that began last summer. The duo stole from houses and shops, including televisions, cameras, computers and cash amount to almost £50,000.

KENTUCKY COMPUTER STOLEN FROM COLLEGE Engineering college sees rash of thefts - Campus News

A string of four thefts have occurred in the College of Engineering buildings over the past couple weeks, including two yesterday morning, according to college officials.

All thefts occurred in the middle of the day and objects stolen have ranged from money to a laptop to a multimedia projector from one of the classrooms, said Lynn Tilley, an information technology manager for the EngineeringComputer Center.

Maj. Joe Monroe, interim UK police chief, said UK police are investigating the incidents and that he thought the same person perpetrated all the crimes.

"My gut feeling on this is probably more than likely these thefts are related," Monroe said.

"Every now and then we'll get a rash of thefts in a certain area," he said.

A College of Engineering employee called UK police yesterday morning about a suspicious person described as a black male with a red toboggan, red shirt, dark pants, puffy blue jacket and a tattoo on his neck, according to Monroe.

Monroe said the subject was gone when officers arrived but that UKPD is looking over past incidents in the buildings and past arrests to search for more definite suspects.

"I can't say we have a suspect ID'd," Monroe said. "That's the only lead we have right now."

Three of the thefts took place in the Ralph G. Anderson Building while the multimedia projector was stolen from an F. Paul Anderson Tower classroom, Tilley said. The projector was later recovered in a Business and Economics Building bathroom.

Tilley said he was surprised by the nature of the crimes, specifically how they were committed during mid-day in high-traffic areas.

An e-mail Tilley sent out warning faculty, staff and students about the thefts said one employee had money stolen from an office after "the individual had literally stepped 10 feet down the hall into the neighboring office to ask a question."

The projector took more effort to steal. It was mounted on the ceiling, Tilley said.

"They're pretty determined if they're the same individual," Tilley said of the crimes.

Monroe and Tilley urged everyone in the College of Engineering to keep their valuables secure and keep offices locked when not occupied. Any suspicious activity should be reported immediately to UKPD, Monroe said.