'Well-dressed' men return stolen laptop

[InfoSec News <isn () c4i org>]

Forwarded from: William Knowles <wk () c4i org>

http://www.itechnology.co.za/index.php?click_id=13&art_id=vn20030808134251881C145622&set_id=1

[See http://lists.insecure.org/isn/2003/Aug/0003.html for the first 
part of this saga, I'm suprised he got it back!  - WK]


By Liz Clarke
August 08 2003 

There was a shared feeling of hopelessness when American Professor Jim 
Mullins, from Washington University in Seattle, told me the story of 
how he had been mugged by seven youngsters on his to the International 
Conference Centre. He was close to tears. I have to admit, so was I.

I felt hopeless, wondering how this professor, who holds key questions 
to the global Aids pandemic, must be viewing this country. Here he was 
about to address three thousand delegates at the Aids Conference on 
the mysteries of this sinister and overwhelming disease affecting 
millions, when it was grabbed from him.

He, too, felt equally hopeless knowing that the equipment and data 
taken from him by knife-wielding children represented years of 
research on this dreadful virus, some of which was cutting edge 
knowledge, still waiting to be analysed and stored. The possibility 
was that within hours, much of that information, could have been lost 
- the laptop sold, the data on disc chucked into the nearest dustbin.

"I am praying for a miracle," he said quietly at the ICC where he had 
valiantly tried to reconstruct his research presentation for delegates 
attending the four-day conference.

I told him that there was a remote chance that if we appealed for the 
return of his goods through the Daily News, we might locate it. Little 
did I realise that the next 72 hours were to be among the oddest in my 
life as a journalist.

Within hours of the story being used, I was contacted by two 
"businessmen" who said they thought they had located the lost 
equipment. They said they had contacted the police and the US Embassy, 
without any joy. 

Understandably they were nervous to just hand over the goods, knowing 
that there was a possibility that the police would think they had 
something to do with it.

"We came across this stuff and realised that it had something to do 
with Aids. All we are trying to do is give it back to the right 
person."

I don't know the names of the people who brought the equipment back, 
but they were well dressed and polite. 

Suffice to say that Mullins's computer and data arev now on the way 
back to the States.

"We are really sorry about what had happened to the professor," they 
said. "We would like him to know that. Crimes like this give our city 
a bad name." 

You can say that again. As I say it's been an odd 72 hours.


 
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