Patent ID: 8305202

Claim:
An apparatus for preventing theft of equipment having a prime mover, an prime mover controller that controls operation of the prime mover, and an authenticator that acquires ID information from an electronic key when the key is brought close thereto by an operator, determines whether the acquired ID information corresponds with authentication ID information, and permits the prime mover controller to start the prime mover when the acquired ID information is determined to correspond with the authentication ID information, characterized in that: the ID information includes data indicating a number of times the key is updated; and the authenticator determines whether the number of times indicated in the data is greater than that in the authentication ID information when the key is brought close thereto by the operator, and when the number of times indicated in the data is greater than that in the authentication ID information, updates the authentication ID information such that the number of times in the authentication ID information is equal to the number of times indicated in the data.