Woman remotely logs in to her stolen Mac to catch thieves

A woman whose apartment was burgled has caught the thieves by hacking
into the laptop they’d stolen and taking pictures of them. On Tuesday
last week, one of the victims received a phone call from a friend
asking her if she was online: she said no, and was told by the friend
that his computer showed her as being logged onto the web. At that
point, the victim signed onto another computer and used the “Back to My
Mac” programme to deduce that her stolen Mac was online, and that
someone was using it to shop on the internet. She then activated the
stolen computer’s camera, allowing her to “see” what was in front of
the laptop. At first she saw only an empty chair – but a little while
later she was able to photograph a man sitting in front of her stolen
laptop, and then his accomplice. The victim did not know either man but
showed the photos to one of her roommates, who recognized them as
having attended a get-together at the apartment a few weeks before the
burglary. The burglars, both men in their 20s, were arrested at their
New York homes on Wednesday, after the woman handed the photographs in
to the police. Around $5,000 (over ?2,500) worth of electrical
equipment was recovered.