A Stealthy Phoenix is just a tad flawed

Granted the premise of Phoenix from local company Bak2U is one we like, there are some issues we faced when we were doing the review of the app that we felt made us hold back slightly in our recommendation for it after spending more time.

One major gripe I had is the lack of uninstaller for Phoenix. As most Mac users know by now, the beauty of most of the popular apps we love is the ease in which they are installed, and also uninstalled should the need arises. None of those Registry BS on some other Operating System where you don’t know what was installed and where they were. Most of Mac apps can be easily dragged into Trash and be done with it. That is not so true with the Phoenix.

The success of the app requires certain background running processes that will monitor and trigger the transmission of the notifications should an illegal use is detected. The files that do that are not in your usual Application folders as that will defeat its purpose. They are so well hidden that when you do a search in Spotlight, you will not find a trace of it. So, how do one go about removing those hidden files should you want to remove the application?

As there weren’t any uninstaller nor instructions given for the review, we had to contact the developers for the instructions, which was swiftly relayed to us. However, they were a set of Terminal commands that only someone with at least basic knowledge of Unix operating system will understand and at least one, required root access before it can be deleted. Unless you know your sudo from your judo, removing Phoenix from your Mac will be a herculean task.

The last thing we want is a bogged down Mac with hidden processes running in the background eating up the Mac’s resources. One app that is comparable in its purpose is Little Snitch by Objective Development which stays in the background sniffing network traffic which required it to put files in various locations. What stands out for Little Snitch is that the installer comes with an uninstaller that is activated in the same screen as the installer. One click and the app is easily uninstalled and associated files are removed.

littlesnitch-installer.jpg

I would like to think that part of the onus of keeping our Macs clean and safe, belongs to developers whom we trust to give us full value for their applications, be it using it or when we choose not to. Saving us from the guess work and hassle of running Terminal to remove files will be greatly welcome and I’m sure those guys behind Phoenix will improve on the app soon.

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Review: Phoenix anti-theft software

I have a friend whose laptop was stolen when he was traveling in France. The perpetrator broke into his hotel room, ripped open his luggage and took his Macbook. The hotel’s security camera tapes were handed to the police for investigation and now almost a year later, he never saw his laptop or heard from the police.

We all love our macs because it’s not just a piece of hardware, it’s a collection of all your personal data, photos you’ve taken, music that you like and for those who work off their Macs, their livelihood. Replacing the machine is one thing, but if you haven’t been backing up your data regularly then even a new mac without any pictures, tunes or even emails will never feel like you’ve really replaced it.

Truth be told, the chances of recovering a stolen laptop is close to zero but you can increase your chances by installing anti-theft software. There’s a few in the market, but today we’re going to look specifically at Phoenix, developed by a Singaporean company, BAK2u.

bak2ulogo.gifPhoenix installs as preference pane, which is good thing because it’s meant to remain hidden. When the thief turns on the Mac and an internet connection is established, he will be prompted to enter a password, failing which, the software will assume that the Mac is stolen and begin tracing the laptop.

Phoenix notifies you in a few ways but at it’s core, it uses Skyhook Wireless technology to ascertain your Mac’s position using a combination of GPS, Cellular Tower triangulation and Wi-Fi access points. With the location found, Phoenix is able to discreetly send you an email with the GPS location with a link to Google Maps and also an external IP address of the ISP your Mac is connected to. The software will also use the built-in iSight camera to take a short movie of the perpetrator’s face as he’s using your Mac. It could also be configured to send out updates to Twitter with the GPS location. The tweet formatting is a little off, but it’s nothing major. Furthermore, if you’ve set up your twitter account to notify you of tweets via your mobile, then it extends this functionality even more.

What I like about this software is that it should theoretically keep you constantly in the loop about your Mac’s location and these information will be very useful to the police to help recover your laptop. Also, I think Phoenix did one thing exceptionally well.

There exists a fine balance between how effective a tracking software is and how much personal information is being collated on a regular basis. The best tracking software would probably need a central server that can keep tabs of your Mac at any given point in time. However, this could so easily be exploited because of the 99.99% of the time you’re Mac is not stolen, someone somewhere knows exactly where you are. On the other end of the spectrum, if the software doesn’t know where to send the data to, then it’s nothing but a dud. The developers have clearly thought this out and Phoenix probably sits near the golden mean between privacy and utility.

No software is completely fool-proof and there’s some areas which can definitely be improved. I thought of a few ways to circumvent the software but I won’t post it here for security reasons. For all it’s worth, this software is effective enough if your Mac is taken by an average thief. If the burglar is moderately Mac-savvy and has done enough homework, it won’t be too difficult to deactivate this tracking software, assuming he/she knows it’s installed in the first place.

Phoenix retails at US$39.90 and it’s available here. I would definitely recommend that you consider this if you take your Mac when you’re on-the-go. There are some other software on the web but I like this for the fact that it respects a user’s need for privacy, yet is robust to contain enough alert mechanisms to make it useful in times of need.

Let’s just be clear that they offer no guarantee you’ll get your lost Mac back, in fact no software maker will ever do that. But if you’re unfortunate enough to lose your Mac, this will give you a fighting chance in recovering it. Look at it this way, any chance is better than zero.

Example of the email sent out from stolen laptop:

From: bak2utesting@gmail.com
Date: February 12, 2009 9:45:00 PM SST
To: predefined-email@gmail.com
Subject: Phoenix Alert message

Date & Time: 2009-02-12 21:44:32 +0800

Location
————
Map: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=1.299381,103.852814
Latitude: 1.299381
Longitude: 103.852814

External IP Addresses
——————————
IP: 220.255.24.47

Proxy Information
—————————–
IP: 220.255.24.47
HOST: bb220-255-24-47.singnet.com.sg
PROXY: 220.255.7.144

MacBook Pro Information
—————————–
Serial Number: System Serial#
MAC Address: 00:1b:63:97:1d:75
Host Name: John-lim-macbook-pro.local

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Review: PhoneSCREAM

PhoneSCREAM (iTunes Link) is the first of hopefully more anti-theft app from Singapore company BAK2U. The company develops anti-theft software for many mobile phones and laptops that can help increase your chances of retrieving your missing gadgets if you have their software installed.

Bak2U’s PhoneBAK software, currently available for most mobile phone platform, has some sophisticated features that will alert you when your phone is stolen, report the unauthorised SIM card’s information and also track the phone’s location via the mobile cell location.

BUT, for PhoneBAK to run on the iPhone, it probably requires the app to be running in the background for it to be able to detect and then send out the SMS without the thief’s knowledge, which was why the app never got the stamp of approval from Apple. That’s where PhoneSCREAM comes in.

What is PhoneSCREAM

PhoneSCREAM is like the sad little cousin of PhoneBAK which might deter some clueless thief for a short while. What it does is when activated, should anyone lift the iPhone, the in-built accelerometer will detect the movement and scream – by default, a siren will be heard. To deactivate it, you just need to press the Home button. You can also custom record a warning via the mic and use that as the siren. To change to that or to two other siren sounds, just go to the Settings and select PScream and make your choices there. Pretty simple and easy to use.

See it in action here:

How loud can it scream?

Therein lies the problems for this app. Its simplicity also makes it a less than effective way to deter theft of your iPhone. It’s main objective of alerting you when the iPhone is shifted, is easily thwarted if you had previously set the volume to low or silent. It will be more effective when the accelerometer detects the movement, when the siren goes, the app should also push the volume up to maximum for it to be effective. However, anyone who plugged their earphones to the iPhone, the PhoneSCREAM is rendered useless as the alert sounds comes out through the earphones.

Press HOME and be home free

Furthermore, it’s too easy to deactivate the alarm. Like an alarm clock, most people’s first reaction to shut the alarm is to press the biggest button on the clock. For the iPhone, it is the Home button. When PhoneSCREAM is running and screaming its head off, by pressing the Home button, the alarm is switched off and voila, instant peace. A better option would be to set a numeric key lock that will only silent the siren if the right key combination is keyed in.

According to the app’s description in the App Store, PhoneSCREAM disables the auto lock so that it will always detect motion but will lock the iPhone when the siren is triggered. However, this doesn’t seem to work for the iPod Touch as when the siren goes off, after the Home button is pressed, the auto-lock did not lock the iPod Touch and just returns to the Springboard. Anyone with iPhone can verify that it will display the number pad for unlocking?

Another thing to add is that the app will keep your iPhone awake if it is activated. Forgot about it and your battery will probably go flat before it can start screaming.

i-PhoneSCREAM – Give me PhoneBAK soon!

That said, it is unfortunate that due to Apple’s strict restriction over the SDK prevented Bak2U to offer PhoneBAK for the iPhone. Though PhoneSCREAM can serve as a _first line of defense, its limitations are apparent and makes it far less effective as an anti-theft software. Hopefully the guys at Bak2U will persevere and hopefully we’ll see a closer copy of PhoneBAK for the iPhone in the near future, or at least a beefed up PhoneSCREAM soon.

PhoneSCREAM (iTunes Link) is available at the App Store for US$0.99. Also check out other iPhone apps from Bak2U at the App Store.

Screen shots

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Protect your iPhone with PhoneSCREAM

After many rounds of work and applications, Bak2U finally got their first anti-theft software out for the iPhone/iPod Touch – PhoneSCREAM. They had bigger plans for their anti-theft app, similar to those they have for BlackBerry – PhonebakBB, but problems with Apple with regards to the workings of app, made it difficult for them to get the app approved.

Previously we had another version of anti-theft software for iPhone that functions similarly to PhoneBAK BB (BlackBerry), that reads the thief’s SIM card (to trace who he is), his location and to wipeoout confidential information when stolen. It didn’t conform to the requirements, therefore we rewrote the original ones breaking it up into smaller apps to meet the same objective of protecting owner’s iPhone.

It would be great if everything is in one single app then to break them up to increase the chances of a recovery or prevention of the theft to our beloved iPhone/iTouch. But Apple is not the easiest company to work with, with string of approval to go thru. Challenging is really the keyword here :)

While we don’t get the full thing, hopefully Paddy Tan and his folks at Bak2U will get the rest of the apps out. To see how PhoneScream works, just see the short video.

PhoneSCREAM is available for purchase and download at the iTunes App Store at US$0.99.

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NewsBits – vlingo, Amazon mobile, PhoneBAK Lite and just abit of Twitter

New apps to try for your iPhone and iPod Touch – vLingo, Amazon Mobile and Twitter clients plus local company BAK2u security app for your iPhone stripped features to get Apple’s green light.

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