RHODE ISLAND COMPUTER STOLEN http://www.eastbayri.com/detail/142129.html
A quick look around revealed that their 42” flatscreen TV was gone from the living room along with a smaller one in the kitchen. Also missing was a laptop computer that served primarily as a backup for business and personal information. The thief or thieves had also been on the lookout for drugs, taking pills from the medicine cabinet — “I hope our Centrum Silver was of some use to them.”
Having thieves inside their house while they slept was frightening, she said, and losing a laptop full of important data was just as disconcerting.
Although she’d been advised that the stolen laptop recovery rate is not encouraging, she called CMIT Solutions of Central Rhode Island, the Portsmouth-based firm that services her company’s computers.
Tracking stolen computers is not really part of business for the firm which employs 15 computer tech people at 3030 East Main Road.
“It had been wiped clean of everything that I had put on it,” she said, adding that perhaps that is just as well. The new owner was not charged since proving he had known it was stolen would be difficult.
4/4/11 07:21AM | 989 views
Computer sleuths track stolen laptop
High tech clues lead to Fall River
High tech clues lead to Fall River
PORTSMOUTH — The evening had gone well — friends were over towatch the Patriots punish the Jets back in early December.
The next morning was not so good.
Jan Grinnell went downstairs to find the front door of her Viking Drive home ajar. The door had been locked but the lock (since replaced) “was cheap I guess and easily forced open.”
Having thieves inside their house while they slept was frightening, she said, and losing a laptop full of important data was just as disconcerting.
“Certainly it worries you, wondering where it wound up and how it might be used.”
She called Portsmouth Police “and was surprised when I got an e-mail back that afternoon from Detective (Stephen) Burns letting me know that ‘We found your TVs.’ That was quick work.”
Police, she learned later, were investigating the case of a juvenile who had escaped from state custody. When they obtained a warrant, they found the televisions in the boy’s house not far from the Grinnell’s house.
There was no sign of the computer, however, and she was told that it probably had already been sold on the black market.
Ms. Grinnell owns and operates Grinnell Appreciative Consulting from her home and said the computer was important to her business. She and people she works with help test software systems used by government and business — for instance the systems that keep track of child support payment collections in Pennsylvania (none of the child support data was on the computer).
That word “Appreciative” was derived from her work as an ordained deacon in the Episcopal Church. Appreciative Inquiry is a method, she said, that focuses on approaching problems by focusing first on what has worked well in the past (rather than what has failed) in the search for a solution.
“Instead of asking ‘What went wrong’ which usually leads to placing blame, we start with what went right and build from there.”
“I knew it was a long shot but I thought they might have an idea,” she said.
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But it was an “interesting challenge,” said owner Jason Arabian.
Typically, CMIT keeps tabs on the health of clients’ computers by logging on directly to make sure that all is updated and working smoothly.
Their best and perhaps only hope would come if someone tried to turn the computer on.
And lo and behold, someone did just that days later.
Engineer Stephen Ford kept the monitoring program for Ms. Grinnell’s computer open on one of his work screens and “suddenly it popped up,” Mr. Arabian said. “Someone, somewhere had turned it on.”
By turning it on, that person had revealed the IP (Internet Protocol) address of the new user.
“An IP internet address is just like a street address,” Mr. Arabian said. It’s a great lead but it is not public information. To actually learn the computer’s whereabouts, the police would need a search warrant to enable internet supplier Comcast to hand over the address.
Weeks later that happened and police visited a Fall River apartment. There they found Ms. Grinnell’s computer.
Ms. Grinnell said she is thrilled to have her computer back — it has since had its files restored with data that CMIT had backed up remotely.
“I think it’s a great lesson for people like me who depend so much on our computers,” she said. “It’s pretty amazing what they were able to do.”
Mr. Arabian credited Ms. Grinnell for her persistence and said it was particularly gratifying work for all involved at his end.
“IT is not always the most rewarding profession,” he said. “When you do your job right, you hardly hear from the client. It’s only when something goes wrong.
“It really did feel good.”
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