“Look for their MAC IDs (not to be confused with Apples Mac) popping up from servers based in China.”
This is what I suggested last time this (ahem) article was posted. Wouldn’t ya think the MAC addresses of these computers would be in a database somewhere, and they could be detected very (or at least “pretty”) quickly after they ever logged onto the ‘net? [at least wired, perhaps not wirelessly] Which FReeper knows this answer?
Not id the thieves, or their fences were smart enough to erase the EPROMs and re-load them. (or in the case of Pentium 4s, replacing the processors)
Adding a nic would give it a new mac address. Also there would not be a reason to put it on the internet if someone was looking for data. I meet one one the computer techs for this site a couple years ago. Getting parts in and out of the buildings was a real time consuming process. I would guess most are in a closet behind a box of paper.