In this week’s podcast we had a question from Craig Shimmon about recommendations for how to make iLoks secure in a computer lab environment. I had two suggestions, a diecast box which Neil Hester suggested trashing the lid screws once fitted and screwed to the desk, or a product called a Roklocker. We have had an excellent solution which takes my diecast box idea and moves it on many stages to an excellent solution and so with Neil and Fred’s permission we bring you the Fredbox Mk 2. They also offer an improvement to my our ideas for a Mac Pro. Neil Martin takes up the story….

It is a solution which secures an iMac, its keyboard and mouse and any other USB cables connected to it, as well as a USB dongle, including aniLok 2 (for an iLok 1, just buy a slightly bigger box!). If you’re comfortable with drilling big holes into desks and aluminum boxes, read on. 

Here’s what you’ll need: (links to suggested suppliers but it will be easy to find your own local suppliers)

• 1 x Die Cast Box 111mm x 60mm x 31mm

• 1 x M24 Washer (commonly available)

• 1 x RM One Desk Bolt Security Kit

• 1 x 0.5m USB extension cable

You can see the finished version at the top and here is a close-up of the Fredbox itself.

Here is how you can make one…

1. Drill a 17mm hole in the centre of the die cast box’s lid. 

2. Drill another 17mm hole in the centre of one side of the die cast box (you may need to make it a little larger depending on the size of the USB connectors you want to pass through it). 

3. Drill another 17mm hole through the iMac’s base (I find placing the iMac face down on a cloth-lined workbench with something in front of the base - a piece of wood clamped to the bench - to stop it moving forward, works well). 

4. Drill another 17mm hole through the desk, where you want the iMac to be sited. 

5. Put down the drill. 

6. Place the washer inside the box and pass all USB cables through the hole in the side, then through the washer and back out of the side hole. That’s the 0.5m extension, keyboard and mouse and as many other cables as you can fit. 

It should look something like this, with the iLok connected. 

7. Take the pin from the RM desk bolt kit and pass it through the washer and then the lid of the box, and screw the lid in place. With the pin in place, you can no longer pull USB cables through the washer. Your 

Fredbox should now be complete!

8. Finally, pass the pin through the holes in the iMac base and desk, then secure it with the padlock under 

The desk.

You are now left with a situation where you cannot pull the Fredbox up high enough to release the lid with a screwdriver and the iMac is locked to the desk, along with its USB peripherals. Not bad for roughly £10 - £15 per box and a bit of time in the workshop! Touch wood, we’ve never lost an iMac or an iLok yet (36 machines in 2 labs, since 2007!).

Mac Pro solution

For our Mac Pro machines, we simply cut a slot in a spare PCIe slot cover and pass a USB extension through it, allowing us to house the iLok inside the Mac Pro itself. Where the side cover release lever is, you can flick down a locking point that you may attach a padlock/cable lock to in order to stop folks releasing the side cover.