Police: Software to find stolen Wi-Fi devices has successful test

IOWA CITY - Concept has moved closer to reality for an Iowa City police officer who has developed a tool to help recover stolen Wi-Fi-capable devices.

David Schwindt said a law enforcement agency that has tested his product - called L8NT - received an alert for a stolen device that had been entered into the L8NT database. That alert was corroborated through other investigative means, and the device was later recovered, Schwindt said. Because the investigation is open and ongoing, Schwindt said he can't provide additional details, but the incident proves the product he's been working on for two years works in the real world.

'It's a little surreal,” Schwindt said, considering how many hours he's devoted to developing L8NT. 'I remember spending a week just working on the icons for the application. It's all the little things that just take so long that you never think of.”

L8NT - which stands for latent analysis of 802.11 network traffic - is a software product that searches for media control access, or MAC, addresses from a database of items that have been reported stolen. Each Wi-Fi enabled device has a unique MAC address, Schwindt explained.

The software - which automatically removes personal information from the MAC packets - operates through a thumb drive-sized antenna that plugs into a squad car laptop and scans for MAC addresses, searching for those that match stolen items entered into the database. Because the software operates partly in the cloud, an officer using the software in Los Angeles could be scanning for devices reported stolen in New York City, Schwindt said. That helps when a device is stolen and then moved to another jurisdiction or sold online.

Schwindt said his product can be used for smaller crimes, such as someone having their cellphone stolen, but it is intended to be part of larger investigations.

'Take that cellphone and have it be stolen as part of a homicide, sexual assault or a robbery,” he said. 'Now, that's a very good candidate for this. That's a much more serious crime.”

Schwindt has been awarded funding through the Iowa Economic Development Authority and the Wellmark Venture Capital Fund to develop his product, which was designed by his two business partners. Last fall, 29 agencies did beta testing on the software for 10 weeks and uncovered only one bug.

'The feedback was superb,” he said.

Later testing also ensured that L8NT's cloud system worked as it was supposed to. Schwindt said he is satisfied with the entire testing process and officially launched the product on Feb. 27. He has attended law enforcement conferences in the past to gauge interest in his software. Now, Schwindt said he plans to hit the conference circuit again to promote L8NT.

l Comments: (319) 398-8238; lee.hermiston@thegazette.com