Forum Moderators: open
in movies a guy will sit down at a terminal, play a complete piano concerto on a keywboard and lean back within 30 seconds saying "I'm in", is it really like that? hell no
a recent interview about data security gave some 'tips': most of security blackouts are now originating from employees, not software. Unintentionally leaking info took the lead, breaking in from the outside is rare.
my favorite was 'do not plug the USB key you found in the company parking lot into your computer'... as the pendrive might have been 'lost' near your car on purpose.
...
how do 'hackers breach' ( sorry but this is capital BS ) the tightest security and deface sites... like the way we saw happen last week? Security is probed by companies who are in fact 'hackers' themselves, looking for and patching holes of the system. In most cases, everything is air-tight, news of 'kid geniuses' and 'programming wizzards' became a rarity.
So when I'm asked 'how they did it', I answer that it's probably a trojan leaking the info or a stolen laptop, since we're talking about high-security networks, an unpatched hole in the system comes in third only.
And this was before I READ THIS on PCWorld:
Laptops Lost Like Hot Cakes at US Airports [pcworld.com]
Agam Shah, IDG News Service
Some of the largest and medium-sized U.S. airports report close to 637,000 laptops lost each year, according to the Ponemon Institute survey released Monday. Laptops are most commonly lost at security checkpoints, according to the survey.Close to 10,278 laptops are reported lost every week at 36 of the largest U.S. airports, and 65 percent of those laptops are not reclaimed, the survey said. Around 2,000 laptops are recorded lost at the medium-sized airports, and 69 percent are not reclaimed.
...
About 53 percent said that laptops contain confidential company information, with 65 percent taking no steps to protect the information.
Hold it.
Fire these people.
Both those who don't have their laptops handcuffed to themselves and those working at the airports.
...
airports: *cough* someone lost her bag at LAX last month. there were 2 cell phones in it... the bag never left the 'lost and found' department until she reclaimed it. only that there was 1 cell phone LESS in the bag by then. we know airport security and especially personnel can't be trusted. those who 'lost' their laptops: there's a 15% chance that your data is on its way to hackers and/or your competition. say 'bye bye'.
[edited by: Miamacs at 12:13 pm (utc) on July 1, 2008]
When I go through security, I know exactly where my laptop is at all times, keeping my eyes on it constantly, except for when it's actually going through the scanner. But I know which bag/box went through the scanner before it and which one went after it (whenever possible, I try to make sure that both the before and after items also belong to me).
(Now, having said that, I cenrtainly hope I won't get added to the statistics somehow during my trip on Thursday...)
Are there people who are actually stupid enough to put laptops in checked baggage?
Also about 8 years ago I was at Comdex in Vegas and an Israeli software company was demonstrating technology that had unbreakable keys due to the high bit count of the keys and could only be decrypted by plugging in a physical key into the USB slot. To make it even harder they were coming up with another generation of keys that also required your fingerprint. After you plugged the key in you would have to scan the finger print on the key itself to make it work. I don't remember the name of the company, but this might be a good way to protect the data on a traveling laptop.
When I go through security, I know exactly where my laptop is at all times, keeping my eyes on it constantly, except for when it's actually going through the scanner.
This is how I do it when I travel as well. Maybe I should try some of the security measures above though as I have a ton of sensitive data on my laptop.
