theft

Here at Crave, we rarely post random photos from Reddit, but when we do it's because we discovered something genius.

This clever photo was posted earlier this week on the social-bookmarking community's sub-Reddit, /r/gaming section. Simply titled "She's got me figured out," the photo shows a list of chores that only a Grand Theft Auto fan could appreciate. … Read more

Avast, a maker of popular free security suites, has announced its purchase of mobile security company ITAgents, which makes the security app for Android and Symbian called Theft Aware. Theft Aware is notable for offering SMS remote control, being resistant to phone wiping, and offering features specifically for rooted phones, in addition to more traditional lost-device mobile security features.

Avast would not disclose a purchase price for the company, although since both are privately held companies, they're not obligated to.

The purchase does not contradict the company's plans to release its own Android security solution in the fourth … Read more

Picture this: your laptop is gone. Stolen. Someone broke into your home or office and made off with it. That's not only a pricey piece of hardware down the drain, but also some potentially irreplaceable data.

This happens all the time. My poor mother-in-law had two laptops stolen from her home just a few months ago. They're easy--and popular--targets for thieves. (Laptops, not mothers-in-law.)

If only your abducted PC could call the cops and rat out the crook. That's exactly the idea behind LoJack for Laptops, which, like its automotive-based forebears, helps track and recover stolen systems.… Read more

The bottom line: The new Kaspersky Anti-Virus for 2012 introduces a dual cloud-and-local security system bundled under an overhauled interface that's both easy to use and familiar. The suite's scans aren't the fastest, but it definitely will protect you.

Review: Kaspersky Anti-Virus continues to provide users with a high level of protection that includes security tools not offered by many competitors. The 2012 version won't change the face of personal computer security, although this particular package of security options has attracted enough devotees to make it a best-selling program, both in and out of the security … Read more

Somebody breaks into your e-mail account and sends phishing spam from your address to everyone in your contacts list. Somebody else steals your online bank ID and password and cleans out all the money in your accounts. And another crook swipes your Social Security number and opens credit card, cell phone, and other accounts in your name.

All three of these crimes fall under the umbrella of identity theft. Reports of declines in identity-theft incidents from such security research firms as Javelin Strategy & Research and government agencies, such as the Federal Trade Commission (FTC's consumer-complaint statistics for 2010--pdf), … Read more

Oracle is involved in a number of legal battles at the moment--most notably with Google and Hewlett-Packard, among others--but a ruling yesterday is shaking everything up.

U.S. District Judge Phyllis Hamilton is rejecting a $1.3 billion award that a jury offered to Oracle months ago in its corporate theft trial against SAP. That decision can be read online on SAP's Web site (PDF).

Here's a copy of the new ruling:

Oracle Sap New Trial

Oracle originally argued that SAP's subsidiary TomorrowNow wrongfully and illegally downloaded millions of Oracle files.

The reversal is not to say … Read more

It's a tenet of modern existence that if you are online (and even if you're not) someone might be watching. Is there a limit, though, in what they're allowed to see?

I mention this existential conundrum because of a case in Ohio, which has seen a judge decide that it might not be alright for a laptop-tracking company to espy some of the more intimate parts of your life and body--even if they are being displayed on a stolen laptop.

A Wired report suggests that Absolute Software was quite wired in to where an allegedly stolen laptop … Read more

A 19-year-old woman was arrested late last month in connection with an investigation into the theft and trashing of property from an apartment that had been rented out via a Web site rental service, San Francisco police confirmed to CNET today.

The arrest stems from an incident a San Francisco woman blogged about on June 29. The woman, who goes by EJ, wrote that she rented her apartment out to a stranger through the Airbnb site and returned home to find her place trashed and her jewelry, electronics, money, and other valuables missing. The post went viral this week, prompting … Read more

A few days ago, one Airbnb member's horror story of her home being ransacked went viral. Now she has spoken out again--and things aren't any better.

In case you're not familiar with the account, basically, a woman named "EJ" in San Francisco rented out her apartment while she was on vacation. When she returned, she found her home trashed and vandalized, with some of her most personal belongings as well as several documents related to her identity stolen.

Airbnb's CEO Brian Chesky responded publicly, albeit briefly at first, saying that they would pledge their … Read more