How to lock-down a PC?

[doh_boy]

Any ideas what i can recommend to this school, they were broken into AGAIN on weds night, this is about the 6th time since i have been here, and the 3 new computers were taken. They school knows its some of the parents and some of the other parents know who it is (but won't say for fear of getting their house burnt down), these thieves are comming heavily prepared, they ripped the entire steel shutter off the door of the suite and large concrete blocks were found in the suite. It has been happening regularly to all the schools in the local area, they just get away with a few nice new dell computers 1nce a month. They have also in the past used a jack hammer to knock down the wall to a small store cupboard where some new computers had been hidden, so someone knows where they are being kept! Obviously bolting them down to the desks wont work and they have tried this in the past anyway, the head has asked me if i cud set up a security webcam and if i know of anything else we cud do. I been trying to think along the lines of making the computers useless to them once they have them, i assume if u password protect the BIOS then u cud just flash it to remove the password? Any ideas? Me is going for brains over braun here, i wouldn't put it past them to JCB the wall down so securing the room isn't really an option.

p.s. they did catch one guy a few years ago but he only got a year for it and was released after 6 months, useful!

sorry for the long e-mail thingy.

Basically is there a way to make a PC unusable if stolen?

We've thought of BIOS password and removing drives from the boot sequence (CMOS reset) and I personally can't think of anything. Anyone any ideas?

 

[WPKenny]

If someone's got insider knowledge then it's going to be bloody hard. Especially if, as you say, you tried everything even bolting them to the desks.

So, you can't PHYSICALLY stop them (or so it seems) and you can't hide them. So even on that premise removable hard drive would be pointless cos they'd just find out and break into where ever they were stored.

You can set up an IP camera that just plugs into your switch and you can log on and remote admin that from the net. That'll have sensing capabilites and you'll have a lot of options on how you want to record it BUT if they're walking off with the very computers the video is being recorded to that coul be a bit shit.

So then your next option would be to set it up to be motion sensitive and upload the pics to a website somewhere outside the school. Although the pictures will be a bit useless if the lights are off and they're just using torches.

The other option is getting a proper, armoured security camera that records to a video recorder in another room that VERY few people know of.

It's a toughie alright.

 

[doh_boy]

cheers, its not me so I'm not too bothered. Thats what you get when you try to clean-up a school in salford

I'd not replace them if I was them, it seems a bit drastic but if they had insider knowledge they would stop when you told them that they soon wouldn't have any pc's left.

 

[Furr]

Ok get a pen and paper

ADT security

CCTV cameras, mixture of hidden and visible, try to place the visible in such a way that if they try to avoid them they get caught on the hidden cameras

Motion Sensors

REALLY Loud alarm bell

Visible warnings

When the alram gets tripped you would want it so that the lights turned on

Camera over IP that will record to an offsite location so that if they burn the building down you will still have evidence

I would have thought that investing in a decent security system would be a prime consideration when putting PC's in a public location

 

[Mr. 47]

you could devise a cunning echanism involving flames

 

[xane]

Get some ITX micro-sized PCs and small LCD screens, and take them home with you.

 

[smurkin]

You could buy useless pcs that wont sell....I mean thin clients/terminals....so that the class uses terminals and there is server somewhere in the attick or roof etc...

There is a diagnostic lab on our floor at work using thin client terminals from dell....I believe they dont even have a HD. I was appalled at how useless they are. But I bet theyd surf the net nice and word process. You wouldn't want to nick or own one tho as they would be useless at home.

As for software...citrix specialises in thin clients. I use it to connect to work pegassus e-mail from home. Thro this pegassus doesn't actually run on my pc....its just a "projection" (forgive my lameness...I dont know the tech terms)....it even looks like the shitty pegassus skin theme we have at work. Come to think of it, the server might not actually need to be in the school...it can be implemented over the internet.

 

[bodhi]

Someone sleeping in the PC classroom with an AK-47 might change their minds about breaking in.

 

[leggy]

Too CS.

Couple of pounds of c4 strapped to his circumcised cock would do the trick.

Much more fashionable.

 

[Mellow-]

"Does my bomb look big in this?"

 

[leggy]

 

[GypsyCurse]

I saw a product online recently which used a custom case and clamped a large fixed metal arm into a case and locked directly into two of the central screws of the motherboard. The screws had a special head which meant they couldn't be removed without snapping the board and mangling the case if you didn't have the right tool...

While it sounds a bit hardcore it would definately stop any would-be thief removing working PC's unless he wanted to saw through the 2-inch thick steel arm (not hollow) and fill the PCs with metal filings.

Someone needs to invent a device based on those ink cartrides they use to protect money being carried in armoured cars... so that if the PC has been tampered with or whatever the inside of the case is sprayed with conductive fluids - destroying the components...

//edit: whoever removed my multiple posts can you please keep your mitts off? I was able to spot it myself and once I removed a duplicate I spotted the others gone too. ta

 

[Jonty]

Originally posted by GypsyCurse
//edit: whoever removed my multiple posts can you please keep your mitts off? I was able to spot it myself and once I removed a duplicate I spotted the others gone too. ta

My apologies. Most people, myself included, rarely realise they have posted duplicates by mistake. But I guess you're not most people. I'm sorry, forgive me

Kind Regards

 

[GypsyCurse]

no worries chap, I was in a cranky mood accept my apology

 

[(Shovel)]

It strikes me that the most important point with any camera/recording solution is that, with the on site knowledge that they have, you NEED to go offsite. If we assume that a webcam is set up with a dedicated (non networked) PC (cause if it has to go through the network and they disconnect it etc.) then you need to have two cameras. One watching the place that you are recording, and one watching the area immediately in front of the PC box to stop them disabling that first.

This is all very sinister, but you need to cover it all

I don't know of specific models, and this may be getting too expensive for schools, but:

Could you have a small number of night vision movement sensors, which would make all the lights switch on (as part of an alarm system?) so that some cheap cameras could then record in normal light conditions.

It sounds like you need something quite dedicated, but you actually need to do it in secret. As in, install the hardware out of hours and don't inform the pupils what you've done, otherwise they will only go back to daddy and inform him that he'll need an extra pair of wirecutters.

The number of pitfalls for them to get around any security method (particularly one that would result in identifying the culprit) is huge though, I guess you need to find out the budget for doing something and then investigate what you could do with it.

 

[Furr]

Just build a concrete bunker in the playground with razor wire, sandbags and mines then all your problems will go away

 

[Tom]

I don't think security cameras would be useful here, a balaclava and gloves will circumvent that. Just run everything on a network like smurkin says, and put large notices around stating the obvious. I think that would also be cheaper to set up.

An alarm would still be a good idea, if only to make the burglars panic a bit.