Laptop theft and tracking
 

Do any free/libre options exist for tracking laptops?

Moreso, at work we are encrypting laptops. That should help us in the event of theft to protect sensitive data.

Recovering a stolen laptop would be nice, but with encryption there is no way for the operating system to phone home until the passphrase is entered and the system can fully boot. Catch-22?

Nothing in software really secures a laptop. Encryption helps secure the DATA, but if anyone just wants the hardware they will just format the drive and install something else anyway. The only TRUE security is in hardware.

https://security.stackexchange.com/q...er-for-laptops
https://www.geckoandfly.com/1875/how...stolen-laptop/
https://www.howtoforge.com/tutorial/...-linux-laptop/
https://www.techradar.com/news/softw...n-pc-1101515/2

I have seriously considered sticking some small GPS tracker onto the computer somewhere, so long as it doesn't raise the profile too much. You just need to be sure you charge that hardware!

Tracker 1 and tracker 2. Unfortunately, neither meets your requirement of being a free solution...