Pombo

What is it ?

Pombo can help you recover your computer in the event it's stolen.

How does it work ?

Pombo works silentely in the background, hidden, and sends tracking information to a webserver of your choice.

If your computer is stolen, just log into your webserver to get the lastest file uploaded by Pombo, decrypt and hand it to the police. They will have all they need to catch the thief: IP address, date/time, nearby routers, screenshot, and even a photo of his/her face if you have a webcam !

Pombo protects your privacy: Tracking information is encrypted with rock-solid GnuPG and only you can decrypt it.

Features

• Simple: Less than 300 lines of code.
  
• Protects your privacy: Tracking information is encrypted with a public key before sending, and only you can decrypt it with the corresponding private key.
• Secure: No port to open, and does not permit remote access.
• Does not rely on third-party sites/services: You control the client and the server. You can change servers anytime.
  
• Totally free: No software fee, no service subscription.
  
• Opensource: You can hack it, adapt it.
  
• Reliable backends: Pombo does not try to re-invent the wheel and uses solid backends (eg. no home-made encryption, uses rock-solid GnuPG)
• Only takes a snapshot if an internet connection is available.
• Discreet: Uses zero CPU, zero memory and does not appear in process list when not active (not a daemon).
• Information collected:
• System name
• Public IP address
• Date/time
• Information about all network interfaces (wired and wireless), including hardware address (MAC) of WiFi access point the computer is connected to.
• Current network connections
  
• Nearby routers information
• List of all nearby WiFi access point, with their hardware address (MAC), SSID and power.
• Screenshot
• Webcam snaphot (if you have a webcam)

Sample report

Pombo sends only GnuPG encrypted zip files (for example ubuntu_20090824_155501.zip.gpg) but for practical reasons, here is an example of what they contain:

• ubuntu_20090824_155501.txt : The textual report (real information is garbled for privacy reasons).
• ubuntu_20090824_155501_screenshot.png : The screenshot.
• ubuntu_20090824_155501_webcam.jpeg : The webcam snapshot.

Pombo 0.0.6 report ------------------------------ Computer: Linux ubuntu 2.6.28- ------------------------------ Public IP: 82.124.224.94 ------------------------------ Date/time: 2009-08-24 15:55:01 ------------------------------ Network config: eth0      Link encap:Ethernet
Technical report	Screenshot	Webcam snapshot

What is provided

• pombo.py (to install on the computer to track)
• pombo.php (to install on the webserver which stores tracking information)

Requirements

• The computer to be tracked must run Linux (altough there is a Windows version here, developed by BoboTiG)
  
• Software: Python, GnuPG
• Your GPG public key
• A website where you can install the php script (php4 or php5)
• A small Linux and GnuPG knowledge

Recommended software

• scrot (for screenshots)
• streamer (for webcam snapshots)
• pngnq (to reduce the size of screenshots)
• traceroute (to get nearby routers information)

Recommendations

• Enable auto-login: The thief will not be blocked by the login screen and will be less likely to wipe the harddisk.
• Copy your private key in a safe place. If you keep it only in your computer and it gets stolen, you also loose your private key, and the capacity to decrypt tracing files.
• Don't leave your private key on the computer to protect. Although the private key is itself encrypted and password-protected, it's better not let your private key in the hands of the thief.
• To protect your private files from prying eyes, use VeraCrypt, safe and reliable.

License

This program is distributed under the OSI-certified zlib/libpng license.
http://www.opensource.org/licenses/zlib-license.php

This software is provided 'as-is', without any express or implied warranty.
In no event will the authors be held liable for any damages arising from
the use of this software.

Permission is granted to anyone to use this software for any purpose,
including commercial applications, and to alter it and redistribute it freely,
subject to the following restrictions:

    1. The origin of this software must not be misrepresented; you must not
       claim that you wrote the original software. If you use this software
       in a product, an acknowledgment in the product documentation would be
       appreciated but is not required.

    2. Altered source versions must be plainly marked as such, and must not
       be misrepresented as being the original software.

    3. This notice may not be removed or altered from any source distribution.

Download

pombo_0.0.6.zip

Version 0.0.7 (which also runs under Windows) is available on BoboTiG's website.

Installation

See installation instructions.

Versions history

See this page.