Securing my Ipod

I finally jumped on the banwagon and bought me an Ipod Nano, which I will have to say I use more than I thought I would (maybe the thrill of it being new hasn't worn off yet :) ). But anyway, I am in college right now and happen to live in the dorm rooms. Now seeing how any Ipod device is so compact and portable it is the prime number 1 target for theft at this school.

After my friend's was stolen, I started to wonder if there could be any counter-measures that could be taken to put my mind at ease. One of the first thing that popped into my head was a trojan(or something like it) that could be installed onto the Ipod by me, and when or if it is plugged into a different computer, it could send me an email with important information as to help me find where it was.(such as IP, computer name...what-have-you)

Now I don't know much about the Ipod or for that matter trojan's. So I was just wondering if this was at all possible?

I dont know if the technique you are trying to use would work... if you find a way to do it let me know I would be interested in the same Idea. I dont think i would refer to as a trojan so much as a theft notification application.

I guess the best measures are going to be to always keep it on you and for your dorm you might consider purchasing a small safe. As I know in most dorm environments you leave the door open almost all the time. Or configure a way to put a lock on your desk drawer and keep a key on you so you can throw you stuff into the desk. When you are out and about general awareness is what you need to remember. If you put something down for a matter of seconds it can get legs and jump into someones pocket. Purchase one of those arm bands and just keep the damn thing strapped to you. ohh and for the winter time think geek has a sweet fleece that has internal pockets for things like iPods.

I have seen software for PCs that work along those lines. They quietly "phone home" if you connect from the wrong place or whatever.

I have not heard of anything for an Ipod though.

:)

Good Evening,

I'm confident programs like you are describing are forthcoming if not already coded awaiting release.

Because they are so portable, small, and have such huge storage capacities, I believe they will become/are fast becoming - one of the biggest overall threats to computer security. Just ask yourself, "How many users have IPODs?" It will be interesting to observe the future development of IPOD Security.

cheers

Hey hey,

What you are describing is indeed possible... Think AutoStart (Like CDs)... My Western Digital USB HDD used to have it (before I wiped it) and it would execute a few stupid things at start-up... my USB Thumb drive came with encryption software that I can set up in the autostart...

You've inspired me... I've now got two days off with nothing to do (Last night and today were dedicated to the gf.. but now she has work to do which leaves me free)... I've got a few projects I wanted to start.. but I'll do this instead... Prolly wouldn't take me more than a few minutes... an hour tops... when I've found the time to start it (We're about to watch a movie), i'll do it up and post it when complete... I'm debating between two options right now..

A) Using the Outlook API... This will require that they have outlook setup and they'll see it send when they open outlook. They may also get a pop-up saying another program is attempting to use outlook and asking if they want to block it.. I'll have to experiment and see if I can avoid that or if it happens.

B) Use gmail and have it send through gmail... You'd need to create a gmail account just for this purpose and store the credentials along side the program on the drive... but if you used generic stuff (We could even encrypt it).. it'd do the trick..

I'll think it over... I'm thinking fairly basic..

Send an email with:
i) Username
ii) Realname
iii) IP Address
iv) Computer Name
v) Not sure.

Peace
HT

Even with this software your Ipod won't be all that secure...

Scenario:

The Duck steals Phalse's Ipod. Phalse doesn't worry about it because he knows he should get an email in a little bit, telling him all the good info about my computer. Phalse waits and waits and is getting worried because it's been days and no email!

I'll let you guys in on a not-so-secret technique I used... I wiped the Ipod using a computer with no internet connection!!

Moral of the story? The best Ipod security technique is to keep it on you or in a safe at all times... And not a portable safe either, those things are pointless :)...

too bad you cant write a program that configures with iTunes... plug in your ipod and type a password... lets you read/write/modify your ipod...

without password its junk.. and after so many trys it encrypts the filetable so only the program can decrypt it within a human amount of time. think someone would pay for that?

and im positive there is a way around that... it would be enough to keep afew people from stealing it... but desperate people are desperate people

Quote:

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Originally posted here by The Duck
Even with this software your Ipod won't be all that secure...

Scenario:

The Duck steals Phalse's Ipod. Phalse doesn't worry about it because he knows he should get an email in a little bit, telling him all the good info about my computer. Phalse waits and waits and is getting worried because it's been days and no email!

I'll let you guys in on a not-so-secret technique I used... I wiped the Ipod using a computer with no internet connection!!

Moral of the story? The best Ipod security technique is to keep it on you or in a safe at all times... And not a portable safe either, those things are pointless :)...

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Of course that's the best technique.. but let's think about this.... This is a college theft problem.. .every computers connected to the network 24/7... and then let's look at this again.. petty theft isn't usually performed my criminal masterminds or computer geeks... This isn't highly confidential information... it's an ipod.. they're going to steal it and possibly sell it as it is... the person who buys it will plug it into their computer... and with the number of high speed connections these days.. the odds are pretty good that their online...

Besides this is the principal of a good chunk of the software on the market...

/me wonders why some people are always so against basic ideas...especially common place ideas...

Let me guess you're against AV because you could write a new virus that isn't detected... and you are against firewalls because they could be vuln to an unknown remote exploit???

Peace,
HT

and yes.... I'm in the mood to be a bit of a dick this evening :)

HT~

Send an email with:
i) Username
ii) Realname
iii) IP Address
iv) Computer Name
v) Not sure.

I seem to recall that they send the telephone number and possibly the ISP password. Not sure about the MAC addy?

I guess it varies from country to country?

Over here it is a lot quicker for the police to track a phone number than an IP address. I can see it being rather more difficult if it is coming from shared student accommodation :(

Quote:

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Let me guess you're against AV because you could write a new virus that isn't detected... and you are against firewalls because they could be vuln to an unknown remote exploit???

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Actually... Yes... :)

But in all seriousness though, Not once did I say I was against the software. Granted, there are a lot of people that know NOTHING about computers that would steal an Ipod. And the software would work in that case. But word will get out that people are putting these "theft notification software" on their Ipod's and it won't be long before the workaround is publicly available on the internet.

Thanks for all your input, and HT i await your response :)

Hmmmm,

Quote:

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But word will get out that people are putting these "theft notification software" on their Ipod's and it won't be long before the workaround is publicly available on the internet.

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Whilst that is very true, a lot of these thefts are opportunist and drugs related, so the thief isn't exactly thinking clearly?

It is similar to automobile theft in a way................professionals won't get caught whilst amateurs will?

I would await HT's contribution, as I know that he will give it his best shot. Please be patient as I know that he is a little busy, having just changed jobs and relocated; and he won't give you something that does not work to his satisfaction and standards ;)

Please remember that ALL security can be circumvented by someone with the skills and the time.

just my thoughts :)

One angle not thoroughly discussed here is the theft capabilities of Ipods and such. They are banned from our facility as well as other areas of the organization.

As many of you know, the Ipod functions the same way as a flash drive. It can quickly and easily interface with hosts and suck up tons of business confidential data.

Now, how many security guards are going to suspect someone listening to an Ipod as a threat to leakage? Zero.

Also, we've been able to do amazing things with Ipod OSes and various other mobile devices like the Trio.

There are plenty of nasty things on the horizon. Also, there are a few nasty things out there already.

My guess is that mobiles will open a new market to the AV vendors very soon. Can you imagine SAV running on your cell phone? Ewwwww.

--Th13

Quote:

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Originally posted here by HTRegz
Hey hey,

What you are describing is indeed possible... Think AutoStart (Like CDs)... My Western Digital USB HDD used to have it (before I wiped it) and it would execute a few stupid things at start-up... my USB Thumb drive came with encryption software that I can set up in the autostart...

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In the last issue of 2600 (hey, I gotta show support for local magazines :D ) there was an article where a guy put a script on his iPod that "backed-up" the hard-drive of computers that the guy plugged his iPod into. I forget what language he used (I wanna say perl though).

I can get the details for someone if they want it though.

This also would go along with what TH13 said as well.

Quote:

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without password its junk.. and after so many trys it encrypts the filetable so only the program can decrypt it within a human amount of time. think someone would pay for that?

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Yes, I do. I'm fairly certain that most people are more concerned with obtaining the ipod itself than the music/data stored within. All they would have to do would be wipe the ipod and start again.

The idea of doing something like what's been suggested does sound quite interesting though.

ac

I am not relying on this to be in any sense a main level of security for my Ipod, more so of an added layer of precaution. I keep my Ipod with me almost all the time, but just in case of that 1 time i leave it unattended.

Hey Hey,

For those of you that are waiting for this... It's mostly done...

2 files.. executable and config file..

You store the email to, the subject (so you can customize for filters or notifications), the gmail account info in the config file...

The file will send you the computer name, user name, ip address, and home directory... I'm running into problems with the Windows version of python neither Python 2.4 from python.org or Python 2.4 from ActiveState contain EVERYTHING... and I'm basically reusing some old linux code, so now I have to make some minor changes... I think i may hve a busy week ahead of me.. but you'll know when it's done

Peace
HT

Hey Hey,

So py2exe has a few problems building executables into single files... so it's a whole directory of files... the directory is attached below.. just edit pyPod.ini and you're good to go... You can autorun it to generate the information and send it back to you

The email looks like this

Quote:

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Your iPod has been stolen, I'm reporting this theft to you Here's some relevant information:
IP Address: 192.168.1.50
Username: tyler
Computer Name: DESKTOP
Home Directory: \Documents and Settings\tyler

Please find me fast!!!

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you can make an autorun.inf file on the root of the device.. it would look something like this

Quote:

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[autorun]
shellexecute=dist\pyPod.exe

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Now for the bad news. A device can only autorun from an autorun.inf file if the RMB (Removable Media Bit) is not set...

From Microsoft

Quote:

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http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/device...ge/usbfaq.mspx
Autorun capabilities are restricted to CD-ROM drives and fixed disk drives. If you need to make a USB storage device perform Autorun, the device must not be marked as a removable media device and the device must contain an Autorun.inf file and a startup application.

The removable media device setting is a flag contained within the SCSI Inquiry Data response to the SCSI Inquiry command. Bit 7 of byte 1 (indexed from 0) is the Removable Media Bit (RMB). A RMB set to zero indicates that the device is not a removable media device. A RMB of one indicates that the device is a removable media device. Drivers obtain this information by using the StorageDeviceProperty request.

For more information about the SCSI Inquiry command, see the T10 committee located at http://www.t10.org. This link leaves the Microsoft.com site

For more information about the StorageDeviceProperty, see the STORAGE_DEVICE_DESCRIPTOR storage structure in the Windows DDK, located at http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/de...656e9a.xml.asp.

For more information on Autorun.inf files see the "Creating an AutoRun-Enabled Application" article located at http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/de...asp?frame=true.

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So this can never work properly for an iPod.... I have however seen mention that you can get programs to change that bit... maybe one of the hardware guys / C/C++ programmers here have the knowledge required to write a program to change that bit... or maybe someone can dig up information on it... Then again maybe the mention i've seen of it is incorrect.. Anyways. here ya go...

Peace,
HT

So apparently my file was too large (2.5MB) and I didn't get a warning regarding it, so now I'm uploading it to my site... you can download it from http://www.aoaddicts.net/htregz/dist.zip.

Hmmm... The only Idea's I've heard would be fooling around with the firmware to fool windows in thinking it's not a removable media device. Though this idea was for USB flash drives... So in other words you would need a hacked Ipod for this to work properly, and I have yet to find documentation on hacking an Ipod for this purpose...

Well Thanks HT i appreciate the effort and at least I can look at what you've done and get a better understanding. :)

Howdy,

As a side note, since I don't think I mentioned it... the script looks for a system variable MYMACHINE and ensures that it's set to 1... if it is set to 1 the program will cleanly exit.. if it's non-existant or no t set to 1, the program completes execution..

Peace,
HT