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<p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 17px; ">In this issue:</p>
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<p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; ">1. EVENT: Laptop Registration, First Week in September</p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; ">2. Using a Tracking System for Lost or Stolen Devices</p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; ">3. Microsoft Warns About Dangers of Not Migrating From XP</p>
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<p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; ">1. EVENT: Laptop Registration, First Week in September</p>
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<p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; ">There are two dates coming up in September to register and tag your laptop:</p>
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<p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; ">Where: Kresge Lobby</p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; ">When: September 3, 11:00 am - 2:30 pm</p>
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<p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; ">Where: Stata Student Street</p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; ">When: September 4, 11:00 am - 2:30 pm</p>
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<p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; ">Cost: $10 cash only</p>
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<p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; ">Just as you might register a bike with the police, you can also register your laptop. Information Services & Technology partners with MIT Police to provide STOP tags for laptops. The tag is affixed to the device,
has a unique number, and is registered with a world-wide database.</p>
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<p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; ">Sgt. Cheryl Vossmer of the MIT Police says that although a STOP tag is not software that can track a device via GPS or other means, it has been very effective at providing a way for lost or stolen laptops to
be returned to their rightful owners.</p>
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<p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; ">For example, a laptop that was stolen from a MIT student last year turned up at a Boston homeless shelter. When one of the residents of the shelter tried to sell the laptop to another resident, a person working
at the shelter noticed and intervened. He called the number on the STOP tag that was attached to the laptop. The owner was eventually tracked down via the MIT Police. When he got the call from the police, he was surprised; he thought the laptop was gone forever.</p>
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<p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; ">Read more <a href="https://www.stoptheft.com/">
laptop recovery stories here</a>.</p>
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<p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; "><a href="http://kb.mit.edu/confluence/display/istcontrib/MIT+Police+Laptop+Tagging+and+Registration">Learn more about laptop registration at MIT</a>.</p>
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<p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; ">2. Using a Tracking System for Lost or Stolen Devices</p>
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<p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; ">In addition to using the STOP tags mentioned above, the MIT Police recommends that Apple device owners make use of the free "<a href="https://www.apple.com/icloud/features/find-my-iphone.html">find my iPhone</a>"
feature that comes with an Apple iCloud account. Apple products, especially iPhones, are
<a href="http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2013/03/stolen-iphone-theft-imsi">highly attractive to thieves</a>. According to various police reports around the country, theft of smartphones increased 40% in 2012. </p>
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<p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; ">The same iCloud service exists for Mac laptops and desktops. However, be aware that even with a tracking system on a device -- whether using the iCloud service from Apple or a third-party software such as LoJack
for Laptops (<a href="http://www.lojack.com/Laptops">http://www.lojack.com/Laptops</a>) or Prey Project (<a href="http://preyproject.com/">http://preyproject.com/</a>) -- the police may not be able to simply retrieve it. </p>
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<p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; ">Even when the police can track the stolen item to a building,
<a href="http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-02-14/the-cops-arent-going-to-find-your-stolen-iphone">
the difficulty</a> is in finding the person who has it. If your device has been stolen, or is in a location that you do not trust and cannot get to quickly, your best bet is to erase or lock the device. Once erased, files and configurations cannot be restored
except from a backup.</p>
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<p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; ">If you have a smart phone but don't have an iCloud account or Apple device, check with your cell phone service provider. They may have ways to lock or wipe the device remotely on your behalf.</p>
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<p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; "><a href="http://kb.mit.edu/confluence/x/AQAKBw">What to do if your MIT or personally owned device has been lost or stolen</a>.</p>
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<p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; ">3. Microsoft Warns About Dangers of Not Migrating From XP</p>
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<p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; ">For months now, Microsoft is telling Windows XP users that there will be no more updates for Windows XP Service Pack 3 after April 8, 2014.</p>
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<p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; "><a href="http://blogs.technet.com/b/security/archive/2013/08/15/the-risk-of-running-windows-xp-after-support-ends.aspx">A recent Security Blog post from Microsoft Director of Trustworthy Computing Tim Rains</a>
warns that while XP SP3 was state of the art when it was released, the measures employed are no longer sufficient to block current attacks. Once support for XP ends, hackers will be able reverse engineer updates to see if XP is vulnerable to the vulnerabilities
they address; while newer versions of Windows will be patched, XP will not be, putting users at direct risk of attack.</p>
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<p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; ">Information Services & Technology is in the final phase of terminating support for XP users at MIT. </p>
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<p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; ">The recommendation is to migrate to
<a href="http://ist.mit.edu/windows/7/enterprise">Windows 7</a> (with SP1) via a <a href="http://kb.mit.edu/confluence/display/istcontrib/Windows+7+-+Clean+Installation">
clean install</a> versus an upgrade, as soon as possible.</p>
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<p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; "><a href="http://ist.mit.edu/news/retiring_windows.xp">See the schedule and details for the termination of Windows XP support by IS&T</a>. </p>
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<p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Arial; ">===================================================================================</p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Arial; ">Read all Security FYI Newsletter articles and submit comments online at
<a href="http://securityfyi.wordpress.com/">http://securityfyi.wordpress.com/</a>.</p>
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<div>Monique Yeaton</div>
<div>IT Security Communications Consultant</div>
<div>MIT Information Services & Technology (IS&T)</div>
<div>(617) 253-2715</div>
<div>http://ist.mit.edu/security</div>
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