On a weekly basis, users are suggesting a remote wipe functionality for Undercover. In short, this means that we can remotely wipe all files on a Mac if it has been reported stolen. At first, this sounds like a great feature, as laptops are increasingly used as a desktop replacement, often containing sensitive data.

We have thought a lot about remote wipe and there is one major problem with it: the wipe is postponed until the stolen Mac is connected to the internet. There is no way to tell a Mac to delete all its files if you can't talk to it. This means that a thief has access to all data on the Mac until he goes online with the stolen Mac. On average, it takes about ten (10!) days for a stolen Mac to be connected to the internet for the first time, giving thieves plenty of time to view all files and copy them if they are after specific sensitive files. If the information is really confidential, this is totally unacceptable.

Remote wipe is only useful when executed immediately after the theft. This would require a permanent network connection, such as with a cell phone, which is almost continuously connected to its carrier's network. In such a scenario, remote wipe does make sense. However, if the connection isn't permanent as it is on a Mac, remote wipe is just a marketing trick that does not offer any real value. If your Mac contains sensitive data, we highly recommend other security measures, such as encryption (e.g. using FileVault).

It has been a long time since our last blog post. Somewhere on a web forum, I even read that Orbicule might be out of business. This could not be further from the truth: Undercover is doing better than ever and we are working on the next generation of theft recovery software as we speak. I have to admit that our blog remained silent for quite a while, but that's only because we have been hard at work on several projects.

Many (prospective) customers have inquired about the projects we have been working on. Although we do not comment on unannounced products, you can be quite sure that we will be where Apple's focus is at the moment. At least, if technically and legally feasible. How much clearer can we be? ;-)

I also wanted to let our users and blog readers know that we are taking feedback and blog comments very seriously. We do listen to you! For example, we are currently looking into ways to improve the dead Mac functionality [the feature in which plan B is started automatically if the Mac has not been connected for more than 60 days].

Expect to see some fruits of our labour by the end of September.

Prospective customers are continuously inquiring for new Undercover recovery stories, and rightly so. We already posted two fully illustrated recovery stories on our recovery page. Writing up these stories, illustrating them and making sure these stories are not hindering police and/or court investigations is harder than it seems.

Therefore, we were delighted to receive an email from Dean Katsiris, a client we helped to recover his stolen MacBook: he wrote a detailed recovery report, including iSight images captured by Undercover. Please note that this recovery has taken unusually long, but thanks to the perseverance of Dean and the efficacy of Undercover, the story has a happy end. Enjoy...

We at Orbicule wish you a joyful and healthy new year! May all your dreams come true (or at least some of them).
We also wish you a safe year for yourself, your family and of course for your precious Mac.

After launching Undercover 2, we took some time off to relax and recover as 2008 is shaping up to become an exciting year with a major new product scheduled to be released in Q3 2008. To be continued...

We are proud to release Undercover 2, the only theft recovery solution that has been designed exclusively for Mac OS X and the first native theft-recovery application for Leopard.

With Undercover 2, we hope to recover even more stolen Macs:

• We added a dead-Mac-timeout feature: if a Mac is not connected to the net for more than two months, plan B will automatically kick in. That way, we hope to recover at least some of the stolen Macs that are never connected to the Internet.


• Undercover now only connects to the Internet when a network change occurs, dramatically reducing network traffic, while making the system even more aggressive.


• Memory footprint and CPU usage have been dramatically reduced. In most cases, memory footprint is down 75%.


• In addition, Undercover 2 sports dozens of under-the-hood improvements and fixes.


• Last but not least, Undercover is now compatible with Tiger and Leopard. One version now works on both operating systems.

Tiger instructions

First, you have to remove Undercover 1.5:

• In the Finder, remove the following file: /Library/Launchdaemons/com.orbicule.undercover.plist
• Restart your Mac
• Choose Go To Folder from the Finder's Go menu
• Enter the following path: /etc and remove the uc file in this folder

Next, you can download Undercover 2 and run the installer. You can use your existing Kagi license key (not your Undercover ID) to register Undercover 2. By upgrading, you will not use an additional license seat. In most cases, Undercover will simply recognize your 1.5 registration and it won't ask for a license key.

Leopard instructions

If you have installed Leopard by doing a 'Clean install', or by doing an 'Archive and install' you don't have to do any extra work.
Simply download Undercover 2 and run the installer. You can use your existing Kagi license key (not your Undercover ID) to register Undercover 2. By upgrading, you will not use an additional license seat. In most cases, Undercover will simply recognize your 1.5 registration and it won't prompt you to enter your license key.

If you have installed Leopard by doing an upgrade install, you first have to remove Undercover 1.5 by removing the following file: /Library/Launchdaemons/com.orbicule.undercover.plist. Restart your Mac after this removal. Next, you can install Undercover 2 as described in the paragraph above.