So yesterday while in class I was robbed. Someone stole my brand new Columbia winter jacket from the table right next to me. I’d gotten hot and taken it off, placing it within arm’s reach. I mean, like a foot and a half away. When I got up to leave, my jacket was gone. Some stole my jacket… 3 feet away… during math class!
[insert first round of mental expletives]
So that sucked. Then I remembered my iPod touch was in the breast pocket of said jacket.
[insert second round of mental expletives, many of these audible to nearby civilians]
This was rapidly turning out to be a bad day. Then I walked back to my office in the freezing rain in my short-sleeved polo shirt.
[insert third round of out-loud, pseudo-intelligible random expletives, cursing the very nature of such a dirty rotten scoundrel to any available passersby]
So now I’m cold, wet, hungry, and sans $300 mp3 player! I swear a Klingon blood oath of vengeance upon his soul, and get to work.
Here’s where had this been an action movie the next 30 minutes of work would be pieced together into a 60-second montage, complete with Nine Inch Nails soundtrack in the background. I’ll give you the short version:
The iPod touch is more than just a simple mp3 player. It’s got a wifi connection and a browser built-in. [This being, to me, its main utility.] Any time you turn on the device, it automatically tries to find a wireless network and join it. If you’ve ever joined the network before, it won’t even notify you it’s doing so. [he he he]
Notice to criminals: If you’re going to steal a wireless capable device, don’t steal it from the manager of the wireless network.
To make a long story short I used the campus wireless network to track down the exact location of my jacket and iPod. I had it send SMS messages to my cell phone, updating me on its current position. Police officers made an arrest last night and first thing this AM I got my cheese back. Don’t mess with a network ninja. That, my friends, is weak sauce. Weak sauce!
This morning I get a call from the Detective involved with the case. “We just received a report of a laptop stolen on campus. Think you could do that again?â€
[fade in theme music]
Addendum: A co-worker came up with the perfect analogy for this occurrence. “Hey, how about I steal this huge homing beacon and take it back with me to my secret lair? What’s that beeping sound?”
Network ninja out.
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I love this story.
Submitted to Digg.
http://digg.com/apple/Wireless_Network_Manager_s_iPod_Touch_Stolen_ownage_ensues
Nice! Very nice. You have to watch network creativity around the campus police. I produced evidence using the lab statistics program Andy and I wrote to help the campus police convict someone on two occasions. After that, they kept coming by every week……ummm could we get you to crack those logs back open for us……Your working for them now. Great stuff.
Wow. That is great!
I just had something like this happen to me :( I was visiting my boyfriends family in Arkansas and some a$$hole stole my Alpine ski jacket and Ipod touch with car charger. before I go out and spend another $300 is there a way to track it down? P.S. I don’t think the dumba$$ who stole it would even know how to use the WI-fi but your story is giving me hope.
Please send me a msg back if you have any ideas or suggestions
“I had it send SMS messages to my cell phone, updating me on its current position.”
Uhh huh. Exactly how did you do that? As they network admin, sure you could see the DHCP clients table and probably figure out which was your iPod touch. But the magically having it send SMS messages with its position? Doubt it.
Lauren,
Sorry to say I don’t think I’ll be of much help to you. I was able to locate my iPod because it was still connecting to the wireless network I manage. Had he taken it off campus, it would still be gone.
Mr. Miyagi,
I’ll go ahead and assume you’re unfamiliar with a) syslog servers with query notifications and automated messaging, b) Cisco Unified Wireless Networks and the controller’s ability to receive information from access points and triangulate wireless assett locations based on received signal strength from multiple APs, and c) sending email to cell phones via SMS. Assuming such, let’s just go ahead and call it magic.
Drew, your story brought many smiles to the faces of the tech guys over here at KATE as I told the story in our tech room. I would have paid good money to see your reaction when you found your touch on the network.
just head this on the buzz out loud podcast.
good work!
my ipod touch was recently stolen too and i need to get it back…could it work for me?..im not the owner of a network…and i dont know how to go about doing this.
@Nicole,
The only way I was able to do this was through management of the network I knew it would be accessing. Because our wireless network covers much of campus, I assumed eventually it would be brought within range of one of our wireless access points. Without that, and working with management of that network, there’s not much I can do for you. Sorry. I do know how much it sucks to have your belongings taken. I hope you’re able to find it.
Drew,
I’m in the same situation as Nicole. Now I’m on RIT’s campus, and my friend who’s a lackey over in the ITservices department has been able to determine the last time my ipod touch was seen connected to the network, would it be possible to see the script you devised to triangulate it’s location? I’d be annoying the sys admins, so any less work they would have to do, the better.
Hi can you release a guide as to how to do this please?
[...] and because my friend manages the network, he was able to use the campus wireless network to track down his coat and the iPod. Campus police were called, the thief was punished, and my friend got his stuff back, all in the [...]