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| Type | Corporation(NASDAQ:LOJN) |
|---|---|
| Founded | Massachusetts (1978) |
| Headquarters | Westwood, MA, U.S. |
| Area served | Worldwide |
| Key people | Richard Riley, Executive Chairman Ronald Waters III, CEO |
| Industry | Vehicle Tracking |
| Products | See products section. |
| Revenue | ▲ $199M (2008)[1] |
| Net income | ▲ $ 8.9M (2008)[1] |
| Employees | 680 |
| Website | www.lojack.com |
The LoJack Stolen Vehicle Recovery System is an aftermarket vehicle tracking system that allows vehicles to be tracked by police, with the aim of recovering them in case of theft. The manufacturer claims a 90% recovery rate.[2] The name "LoJack" was coined to be the "antithesis of hijack", meaning the theft of a vehicle through force.[3]
Today, LoJack’s core business comprises the tracking and recovery of cars, trucks, construction equipment, commercial vehicles and motorcycles. Additionally, LoJack is expanding into newer, emerging markets through licensing agreements and investments in areas such as cargo security and people at risk of wandering. LoJack Corporation claims that over 250,000 vehicles have been recovered worldwide since the product was introduced more than two decades ago.[2]
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How it works
The LoJack Stolen Vehicle Recovery System is a small, silent radio transceiver that is hidden in a vehicle by a certified LoJack technician. Once installed, the unit is automatically registered in the LoJack Database, which interfaces with the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) system used by federal, state and local law enforcement agencies throughout the US. In the event of a theft, a customer reports the incident to the police, who make a routine entry into the state police crime computer, resulting in a match of the LoJack System's unique code against the state VIN database. This process automatically triggers the activation of the LoJack unit in the vehicle.
If a LoJack unit is activated, every police car within a 2-3 mile radius and equipped with a tracking unit will automatically be alerted that the vehicle is near.
The company’s systems are operable in 27 US states and in the District of Columbia, and more than 30 countries.
The technology uses radio frequency (RF) as opposed to GPS. This allows police to recover vehicles when they are hidden in garages and other dense areas. It also can be upgraded to alert the owner of a vehicle if the car is moved or started, via LoJack Early Warning.
LoJack installs special police tracking computers (PTCs) in law enforcement vehicles, helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft. The PTCs coverage capability ranges from 12-20 square miles (ground) to 75-120 miles (aircraft). The company's software and databases are directly integrated into each state's crime computers, providing a connection to law enforcement.
LoJack transmits on a radio frequency of 173.075 MHz. Vehicles with the system installed send a 200 ms chirp every ten seconds on this frequency. When being tracked after reported stolen, the devices send out a 200 ms signal once a second.[4][5] The radio frequency transmitted by LoJack is near the VHF spectrum band used by television channel 7 in North America,[6] although there is minimal interference due to the low power of radiation, brief chirp duration, and long interval between chirps.[7]
Products
- LoJack Stolen Vehicle Recovery System
- A small, silent transmitter hidden in a vehicle allows the police to track and recover it. The unit is covertly hidden within the vehicle.
- LoJack Early Warning
- An optional component of the LoJack System, Early Warning alerts the owner by phone, e-mail or text message if the protected vehicle has been moved without authorization. A personal key fob sends a signal to the system to disable the warning as long as the owner is carrying it. LoJack offers the Early Warning product for cars, trucks and motorcycles.
- LoJack For Motorcycles
- Police can track and recover a stolen motorcycle.
- LoJack For Construction
- Tracking units can be covertly placed in construction equipment.
- LoJack For Fleet and Trucking
- Protection for tractor trailers, semis, rigs, haulers, and vans.
- LoJack InTransit
- Cargo tracking devices and service.
- LoJack SafetyNet
- Multifaceted solution for tracking and rescuing people at risk of wandering including those with autism and Alzheimer's.
- LoJack for Laptops
- A software product from Vancouver Canada based Absolute Software that enables law enforcement to recover stolen laptops by tracing them across the Internet.[8][9] The product was initially sold under the name “CompuTrace.” In 2005 Absolute Software licensed the “LoJack” brand name and produces the software under both the CompuTrace and “LoJack for Laptops” product names.[10] Unlike the LoJack for vehicles and equipment product, which uses a small radio installed in the tracked device, the CompuTrace/LoJack for Laptops product is laptop tracking software that periodically phones home to Absolute Software's server to both announce its location and to check to see if the machine has been reported stolen.[11][12]
- At the Black Hat Briefings conference in 2009, researchers showed that the implementation of the Computrace/LoJack agent embedded in the BIOS has vulnerabilities and that this "available control of the anti-theft agent allows a highly dangerous form of BIOS-enhanced rootkit that can bypass all chipset or installation restrictions and reutilize many existing features offered in this kind of software."[13][14] Absolute Software rejected the claims made in the research, stating that "the presence of the Computrace module in no way weakens the security of the BIOS". Another independent analyst confirmed the flaws, noted that a malware hijacking attack would be a "highly exotic one", and suggested that the larger concern was that savvy thieves could disable the phone home feature.[15]
Company
The manufacturing company is also called LoJack NYSE: LOJN.
See also
References
- ^ a b http://www.lojack.com/about/Documents/Press_Release_Q4_08_FINAL.pdf
- ^ a b "What is LoJack". http://www.lojack.com/what/index.cfm. Retrieved 2006-08-23.
- ^ Hindo, Brian (2006-01-16). "LoJack's Stronger Signal". BusinessWeek. http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_03/b3967098.htm.
- ^ "Request for Waiver of Section 90.20(e)(6)". FCC (USA). 2000-08-31. http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Wireless/Orders/2000/da001987.txt. Retrieved 2008-05-31.
- ^ "LoJack Radio Frequency, How LoJack Works". Freq of Nature. http://www.freqofnature.com/index.php?m=Common&p=LoJack. Retrieved 2008-05-31.
- ^ "Television Frequency Table". http://www.csgnetwork.com/tvfreqtable.html. Retrieved 2008-05-31.
- ^ "Private Land Mobile Services; Stolen Vehicle Recovery Systems - Proposed Rule.". Federal Register (Volume 71, Number 163). 2006-08-23. http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2006/E6-13743.htm. Retrieved 2008-05-31.
- ^ David A. Andelman (2005-08-19). "Does LoJack For Laptops Work?". Forbes. http://www.forbes.com/technology/2005/08/19/digilife-lojack-laotops-cx_daa_0819digilife.html.
- ^ LoJack foils laptop theft, Techworld.com
- ^ "LoJack licenses technology to track stolen computers". Boston Business Journal. June 27, 2005. http://www.bizjournals.com/boston/stories/2005/06/27/daily5.html. Retrieved 2009-04-10.
- ^ Heath, Nick (15 Apr 2008). "Thieves caught out as PCs 'phone home'". zdnet.co.uk. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/security/0%2C1000000189%2C39386003%2C00.htm. Retrieved 2009-04-10.
- ^ "Absolute Software Service Agreement" (pdf). Absolute Software. July 30, 2008. http://www.absolute.com/service_agreement.pdf. Retrieved 2009-04-10. "Must permit the regular, unimpeded transmission of communications and other data between the Customer Computer and the Monitoring Center in order to enable the Service, including without limitation allow access through your configured firewalls"
- ^ Robertson, Jordan. "Anti-theft software could create security hole". The Associated Press. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gDEcxr3CSkM0RlVSqVzNWlccf6XwD99P33N82. Retrieved 2009-08-06.
- ^ Ortega, Alfredo; Anibal Sacco. "Deactivate the Rootkit". Black Hat Briefings. http://www.coresecurity.com/content/Deactivate-the-Rootkit. Retrieved 2009-08-06.
- ^ "Absolute Software downplays BIOS rootkit claims". ZDNet. http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=3936. Retrieved 2009-08-20.
Further reading
- Ian Ayres and Steven Levitt: "Measuring Positive Externalities from Unobservable Victim Precaution: An Empirical Analysis of Lojack." Quarterly Journal of Economics, 1998, 113(1), pp. 43-77
External links
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