Hello everyone!

The latest and greatest of Prey is packed and ready to go. Codenamed “Solid Snake”, version 0.4 features two new modules, a lot of fixes and enhancements and some important code optimizations. If you wish to know how to update you can scroll to the bottom. Otherwise lets cut to the chase and see what’s new!

Windows System Service

Because you asked for it. Now Prey can run in Windows not only as the current logged in user but also as a System Service, which makes it much harder to remove. This is the setting by default for new installations, but can easily be changed with one click. Users who auto updated and want to switch must open up Prey Config and select “Run as System Service” under the Options for Execution panel.

New Mac installer

We’d seen the current Mac installer was having some trouble with odd passwords so we decided to take matters into hands. We rewrote the whole thing in native Cocoa + ObjectiveC so not only there won’t be any more issues with passwords (hopefully) but also it’ll look and work much nicer. Good one Carlos!

New configurator for Linux

No more keys to mingle with in Linux as well! This was something we still owed the Linux community. Written in PyGTK so it integrates nicely with the GNOME desktop. Additionally, when installing the Debian/Ubuntu package Prey will check if there was a previous installation, and if so it will copy your configuration so you don’t have to set it up twice.

SSL support

At last! All account setup though the installers is now done via SSL, so there will be no more passwords flying openly in the wild. We still need to “SSLize” the password log in for the Control Panel itself, but it’s on our top 10 priority list so be sure that it’ll be done in the forthcoming weeks.

New Lock and Secure modules

As we promised, Prey now has a way to remotely remove any stored passwords either in your keychains or your browser cookies, and can additionally hide your profile data from Outlook and Thunderbird if you wish to prevent unauthorized access to your emails and contacts. This module is called Secure and you can find it under the Action Modules list.

The second module we’re releasing today is a rad new one called Lock. As the name implies, it lets you lock down your computer from being used unless a specific password is entered. How does it work? Simple: if you activate the module, your computer will show an unremovable/oncloseable/unhideable/always-on-top/fullscreen black window which won’t let the user do a thing until the password is entered (or the module deactivated).

It looks like this:

Both modules work in Mac, Windows and Linux — Android users will have to wait a bit! — and from our tests they work real good. Check them out, although we advice you to be extreme careful with the first one as it can do real damage!

By the way, a huge applause to Mark (a.k.a MKHCB on the mailing list) which wrote most of the stuff for the Windows version of the Lock module, and inspired us to write the Linux and Mac versions to provide multiplatform support.

Asynchronous actions (important!)

We realized there was no good reason why actions should be bound to reports, so we decided to separate them. If you’re using Prey with the Control Panel, actions now are run regardless if the device is marked as missing or not — if it is, they will be triggered right after the report is delivered. In other words, be careful not to enable an action module by mistake as it will be activated even if the device is not missing!

Oh, and just to make sure you don’t get any unexpected behavior from Prey, we batch-deactivated all currently enabled action modules so your PC won’t start screaming if you had left the alarm module on.

The reason why this doesn’t apply to non Control Panel users is that the current way of activating modules in Standalone mode doesn’t allow us to differ between report and action modules. In other words, in Standalone mode, modules are still run only when Prey gets the “404 Not Found” response.

Additional changes and fixes

• Geo module should now work in all XP systems, thanks to Premik’s excellent contribution.
• Much better parsing method in Linux’s geo module. The bug that made it fail on some Linux systems is now also gone.
• Webcam module in Linux now takes two pictures (and uses the last one) so the camera can adjust better to the lighting conditions on the room. Pictures look a lot better!
• Debian package install in Linux now detects if there was a previous config and copies all data so you don’t have to resetup your PC.
• SFTP transfer method for Standalone mode (Thanks Birdtori!)
• Alarm module in Mac sets the volume to the highest level before sounding the siren.
• A whole lot of optimizations, some of them that specially made Mac go a bit crazy sometimes (good one Carlos!).
• New Curl bundled in Windows systems (version 7.20) which includes SSL support for setting up new accounts.
• Additional custom options for Curl requests (such as using HTTP 1.0 instead of HTTP 1.1 for passing through proxies) through a new $curl_options parameter.
• Lots of fixes here and there for modules (e.g. uptime in Windows if service wasn’t started, netstat for Macs, etc).
• Better auto connect routine for Macs, this should fix Snow Leopard issues.
• Better: OS detection logic, logging management, auto update checks, handling of processes.

How to update

There’s two ways to update to the new version. You can simply download the new package and run it, or you can also log into your Control Panel account and select the Auto Update feature for your PC’s. In this case, however, we suggest you run Prey in Check Mode afterwards to see if everything worked out smoothly (it should show “Version 0.4″). From our tests the Auto update works real solid, but you never know!

And that’s about it! If you’re interested you can look at the full commit list or simply browse the code itself. As always, we’d love to know what you think of the new features so drop us a line any time though the mailing list.

Thanks everyone for the feedback, and happy hunting!

Original picture by Borya.

Did you notice the little birdie at the top left? Hehe.

Now, as good as the geo functionality may sound, it’s not just a new module we’re releasing today. We’re talking about a completely revamped, rewritten, retweaked, restructured, reoptimized version of Prey. Not only did we take care of a lot of bugs and feature requests we’ve received, but we also packed in a whole new set of stuff that makes us really proud of this new release.

Geo… how?

Okay, basically what the new geo module does is — having that your computer has a Wifi card installed — it scans the area for existing Wifi hotspots, and then attempts to obtain a geo fix using Google’s Location API, pretty much the same way Gears and Latitude positions you on a map. This means you don’t actually need to have access to any of those hotspots, your computer just needs to detect them. And boom!

To try it just install the new version, log into your Control Panel account and activate the geo module for your device. That’s it! When set to missing, your computer will report its location in addition to everything else.

Forget about updates, for real

Remember Prey previously supported auto-updating of modules? Well, one of the biggest new features is a full-fledged updater for Prey as a whole, including its core, binary files, whatever’s in there. This means that hopefully (in case you want to use that feature) this will be the last version you’ll need to come and grab here, and to install by hand. From now on you can just toggle the Auto Update checkbox on your device page and Prey will take care of the rest.

Important to note is that this option is disabled by default, not only because it’s a new feature but we want you (now and always) to be in control, and not touch anything unless you ask us to.

No more keys to mingle with

Another big update is that from now on, Mac and Windows users won’t need to copy and paste the dreadful API and Device keys from the Control Panel in order to set up Prey. Just enter your login credentials (if you’ve already signed up for a Control Panel account) or your user information (in case you haven’t) and the installer will take care of everything.

Well, here is the complete list of changes (or the most important, at least) for this new release of Prey, version 0.3.7.

All platforms

• New Geo module for geolocating PCs using wifi hotspots as reference.
• Double check for network connection, in case the network blocks ICMP (ping) requests.
• Hidden temp folder for better cloaking when Prey is woken up.
• A lot of code optimizations, better handling of functions and variables, less filesystem access.
• Fewer requests for communicating with Control Panel.
• Split core into smaller chunks; better structure in general.
• Added hooks for asynchronous job support for modules.
• Updated email client to version 1.56.
• Better logging of actions and responses, to make debugging easier.
• Enhanced security for Control Panel, clients now get a unique one-time URL for posting reports, to avoid eventual device spoofing.
• Added updater so you don’t need to reinstall the core files for each release (to use you must enable “Auto update” for your device on the Control Panel).
• Optimized parsing of traces. They are also now handled with URL encoding.
• Email’s from Standalone mode are better formatted, and they don’t include the previous header message any more.

Mac

• Using now LaunchDaemon for running Prey, no more Cron. (Good one Diego!)
• Better installer, no more API or Device keys needed.
• Installer checks for previous configuration and restores it on installation after verifying the keys.
• No more “Darwin” references, now straightly “Mac”.

Windows

• Easy Guest account set up through configurator for password-enabled systems.
• New configurator, no more API or Device keys needed.
• Wifi autoconnect finally! A huge thanks to Pablo Poo for this one.
• Can now set delay easily through Configurator, as well as managing other features.
• Delay is now handled in the Windows registry.
• Custom installation path support (you can now install Prey on C:\HarmlessLittleProgram or whatever you like).
• New routes for platform-specific stuff (cron.exe, prey-config.exe, etc).
• Better handling of security permissions (ACLs).

Module updates

• Session: Better uptime output in Windows.
• Alert: Support for text-to-speech in Linux (requires festival or espeak installed).
• Alert: Now shouts the message only upon request. Disabled by default.
• Session: Get current logged in user
• Network: Get gateway IP as well.
• Webcam: Better quality of pictures in Windows.

That’s it! We’ve also made small usability enhancements to the Control Panel, such as making the latest reports easier to find, and also better management of system paths for the Session module.

New Terms of Service

You may have noticed that the Signup form now includes a link to a Terms of Service page. This is something we were missing and is really important (and frankly, better for everyone, for you and for us). These Terms cover only the use of the Control Panel as a service, as the Standalone mode doesn’t require you to use the web application.

Now, the Terms as an agreement isn’t done between you and me but rather between you and my company, Fork Ltd., as obviously I cannot risk getting into trouble directly as a person. This also means that now Prey as a project is officially backed up by Fork, which also means that we as a company are now commited to make this thing keep rolling on for good. Hopefully in time we will be able to redirect some resources towards having a better server infrastructure and getting more developers involved, but for now it’s just a technical issue, and we wanted you to be the first to know.

Anything else?

Yes indeed. We want to make it easier for developers to dig in Prey’s code and to push their own modules, so we want to tell you we’re now putting our hands on providing better documentation for hacking Prey and building new modules. We’re also launching (finally) the translation management platform we’ve been working on for a while.

If you have any questions, feedback, as always, let us know. Hope you like this new release, and happy hunting!

This time it’s the Control Panel’s turn. We’ve heard all of your requests and that’s why we decided to take a while and polish all the rough edges, to add new features and thus make it easier for you to manage Prey and track your computers for when the time comes.

‘Nuff said. Let’s start from, well, from the beginning, shall we?

1. Forgot/reset my password

Having trouble remembering your password? Fear no more!

2. OK/Unverified devices

This looks like the normal welcome page of the Control Panel, right? Well, look again closely. You’ll notice that the second device reads “Unverified” below its title. That’s because we added states for devices, which will make it easier for you (and us) to know when a device is properly set up or not.

Basically, when you add a new device in your Control Panel, it will default to an “unverified” state, which won’t allow marking the device as missing until the link is actually verified. Whenever the server gets a request from the device (meaning it was correctly configured) it will switch to “ok” and then you’ll be able to activate Prey. This way you won’t have to test the configuration by trying to activate Prey: the Control Panel will simply tell you if it is!

3. Module fine-tuning + new Alarm module

Yup, that’s right. Now you can fine-tune the different modules by changing each of their settings directly in the Control Panel, not having to edit the config files by hand in your computer.

if you look closely your eyes will tell you that there’s another module in there, and you can believe them alright. We just added an Alarm module which allows you to trigger a loud sound on the computer for 30 seconds, which may help you find your computer if it is located nearby. We advice you, though: be careful with this one!

4. Better reports, brighter pictures too

Reports now render all the information — we like to call them traces — collected on the computer. This means you should now see, depending on the active modules, the internal (private) IP address of the missing device, its MAC address, its current uptime, the list of active connections, and so and so on.

This is not noticeable on a first look but it surely is important. Now the Control Panel post-processes dark images so you’ll have a better chance of knowing who’s behind your computer if the picture is taken at night or in a dark room.

5. IE support

We’re not that fond of IE — to be truthful, we have bad dreams about it –, but since we’ve gotten a lot of requests to have better support for IE, we decided to hack our CSS and make it look good better on Microsoft’s browser.

For now the official supported version is IE7 (IE6 people it’s time to upgrade!), but IE8 should render just fine. Any comments please let us know on the mailing list.

There’s also been some minor interface improvements here and there, which will make the site look a bit slicker on others browsers too.

6. New translation system

We also worked out a new system for managing translations in an easier way. This will allow to make translations available faster, thanks to the work of the amazing people who have offered their help. We’re very excited to have this finally out, since there’s a lot of different languages on the way!

By the way, to everyone who have contacted us regarding translations, sorry for taking so long but we’re finally ready!

7. Bigger, bolder server

Yes, Prey has lived only for a couple of months on its current home, but it was already time to make room for more growth. In fact, just today we passed the 200.000 report mark! You shouldn’t have noticed the change (everything was done real smooth), but if you experienced any glitches during the migration process please let us know so we can handle it better next time.

That’s all for now. Hope you enjoy the updates on the Control Panel. As always, suggestions are most welcome, and as always, thanks everyone for the help and the constant feedback. More news to come soon!

So basically our idea was to build a one-click way of activating Prey remotely, something simple yet useful, and not only for experienced hackers but to everyone.

So as we say in Chile, “pusimos manos a la obra”, and not only did we accomplish our task but we decided to go a bit further.

While we were developing the web thingy we realized we not only could tell Prey to wake up, but also trigger certain actions/modules in spite of the fact that Prey itself had become a modular piece of software!

In other words, this means that besides activating Prey, you can use the control panel to activate or deactivate different modules in Prey, and also to configure certain things remotely — for instance, changing the delay between intervals which is a really nice thing.

It’s important to note that Prey can still be used as before in a standalone fashion (i.e. not connected to the control panel), but in this case you’ll have to set up the URL yourself, and well, you won’t have the niceties like the remote configuration or function triggering.

So what are you waiting for? Go check the new control panel and tell us what you think!

In general we can say a huge amount of code was rewritten for this version, mainly to make Prey a modular piece of software. This allows us to have more control over Prey, we can detect and correct bugs much faster, and best of all, it allows more developers to start playing and developing pluggable modules to Prey to make it even better!

We still need to do a lot regarding developer documentation, but anyone who wants to give it a shot can check our code repository and start playing around.

We would also like to thank everyone who’s contributed up to now to the project, being it through code, submitting new ideas and reporting bugs too.

As always this is a work in progress so it’s quite possibly some bugs will appear, but with a little help from our friends (yes, that’s you) well squash them out before anyone notices. There still a lot of stuff to do so if you can give us a hand we’ll gladly appreciate it.

Exciting things are ahead!