Absolute Investigations Device Recovery Success Stories Fall 2022

Unfortunately, laptops go missing with regularity. And while the cost of replacing a device is something organizations would like to avoid, even more costly is the price of what’s on the laptop – data. Stolen data is a serious problem for your organization, your users, your customers, and regulators.

Absolute customers have an important resource to lean on when it comes to stolen devices. The Absolute Investigations Team consists of former law enforcement professionals who are trained to help navigate the circumstances of stolen property and recover stolen laptops. They rely on an Absolute firmware-embedded endpoint defense platform and its permanent digital connection that intelligently and dynamically applies visibility, control and self-healing capabilities to endpoints, applications, and network connections, no matter where it’s located, and can swiftly lock, freeze, or remotely wipe a device if it falls into the wrong hands.

Here are a few of the investigators’ recent global recovery highlights. 

Employee Theft

A mental health provider in the United Kingdom discovered 10 laptops began connecting externally with unusual naming conventions. They should have been in a storage facility. IT reported the devices stolen to local police and contacted Absolute investigators. Conducting their own investigation and using forensic tools, Absolute determined the devices were connecting at various locations across the UK so they deployed device freeze on all of them. Since then, 4 of the 10 missing devices have been returned to the mental health organization. A former employee has been charged by police with the theft. 

Shipping Company Theft

A marketing agency in New York hired a new Vice President and mailed out a laptop to the new employee’s home. The box arrived empty, so the agency sent another. That one also arrived empty. IT first contacted the shipping company and officials there are performing an investigation into the two thefts. They also notified Absolute investigators who quickly determined one of the devices was connecting from the Dominican Republic. An Absolute investigator in LATAM made contact with the user and she returned the device. The marketing agency is very happy with getting one device back. Unfortunately, the second stolen laptop has not connected online since it was first stolen but Absolute Investigators will be ready when it does.   

Vehicle Burglary

An employee of a large, national homebuilder was the victim of a vehicle break-in and during the burglary, an employer-owned laptop was stolen. IT notified both local police and Absolute investigators and, a few months later, the device became active from Guatemala. Absolute forensic tools captured the new user’s name and contact details and provided that information to detectives on the case. Absolute then implemented a device freeze and shortly thereafter, the new user returned it to the pawn shop she purchased it from and provided Absolute with the contact information of the pawn shop. Communicating directly with the pawn shop, Absolute investigators convinced the shop owner to ship the device back to the user. It was recently received by the homebuilder, and they were very appreciative of the results. 

Missing Juveniles

Two young students went missing in Texas and were considered in imminent danger. Once IT from the students’ school district determined one of the students had their school-owned laptop with them, they notified Absolute investigators. IT included Absolute investigators in meetings with police and Absolute immediately began tracking the device and setting up instant lines of communication with detectives and school officials. Absolute investigators gave detectives a quick walk through of Absolute Persistence™ technology and details of the device’s last known connection. In the end, police were able to find the missing children overnight, without needing device information. School officials were still enormously grateful for Absolute’s quick response however, and the availability of technology that could have provided critical, just-in-time information. 

For more than 15 years, Absolute Investigations has helped organizations recover their stolen devices. Made up of former law enforcement professionals and other experts, Absolute Investigations uses forensics tools and techniques to locate devices at large and once found, they connect with local law enforcement to orchestrate their safe return. Learn more here.