05-27-2005, 03:00 AM
|
|
Swami
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 4,303
|
|
Your Firm's Life(blood) in Your Pocket?
"It's been dubbed the 'Mobile Manager' but PalmOne's latest mobile beastie, the LifeDrive, is set to land network managers with one of their worst nightmares. A device which is designed to suck data out of any decent Windows machine. Not only does the PalmOne LifeDrive boast a 4 GB hard drive but its software is deliberately designed to sync with a PC. Copy the entire contents of your my Documents folder is dead simple. As is syncing your emails with a Microsoft Exchange server. The INQ's heard of some firms banning iPods for similar reasons but the LifeDrive takes this threat to a new height."
The security threat posed by mobile devices is nothing new, while the proliferation of portable players with a plethora of storage means that the threat going to get much, much worse. I know a lot of folks who routinely carry around 1Gb personal USB memory sticks, have 512Mb MiniSD cards in their phones and who also bring 40Gb MP3 players to work. That's a lot of potential routes for data to escape from companies and I haven't even mentioned embedded cameras ;-). So is it time for firms to start routinely locking down USB & Firewire ports etc. for most employees, should they draconianly ban all mobile storage devices or is there another better way? What are your thoughts on the conflicting demands of security versus freedom and flexibility in the workplace?
|
| |
|
|
|
05-27-2005, 03:22 AM
|
|
Executive Editor, Android Thoughts
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 3,233
|
|
If users are intent on data copying, there is nothing a sys admin can do to stop a dedicated thief. Now as far as casual copying goes, I don't think it would be a bad idea to have USB ports locked down and the user being required to be 'educated' on proper use of memory sticks, devices with built in memory, etc.. to avoid problems.
And by educated I mean informed an perhaps required to sign a contract. I don't mean educated as in: :snipersmile: :bangin: or  ukeface2: . I mean friendly educated, perhaps over a cold one and contract... :beer:
__________________
Dr. Jon Westfall, MCSE, MS-MVP
Executive Editor - Android Thoughts
News Editor - Windows Phone Thoughts
|
| |
|
|
|
05-27-2005, 03:50 AM
|
|
5000+ Posts? I Should OWN This Site!
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 5,616
|
|
OT: I just realized that the total capacity of my (seven year old) primary PC is just under 8GB, with 4.5GB used, not counting the 3.5GB of SD cards I have. My C: drive is 1.85GB. The LifeDrive (rather hippy-sounding name imo) has 4GB of storage built-in. Maybe it's time to upgrade.  ops:
__________________
iPhone 4! ☠☠☠ Mid-2010 15" MacBook Pro! ☠☠☠ Gateway LT2102h! ☠☠☠ Dell XPS M1210!
|
| |
|
|
|
05-27-2005, 04:08 AM
|
|
Intellectual
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 172
|
|
Well, to that end, the company I work for has banned all PDA's & Smartphones from the office. 15,000 employees all had their PDA's banned.
There were only about 1,000 pda's in the company, but still.
It stinks not having a PDA...bye bye Axim x50v. I've missed you, as the ban took effect 3/1/05, and haven't carried a PDA since. Almost 6 years with PDA's...and I'm lost without one. Probably going to pick one up as I'm so dependent on them now.
Yeah, they are a security issue. The main problem was with e-mail's as they can contain customers personal info...so I think it was the right move. Supposedly, they're working on a solution that would only allow syncing Calendar & Contacts as those aren't as critical. Everything else would be disabled.
|
| |
|
|
|
05-27-2005, 04:57 AM
|
|
Philosopher
Join Date: Nov 2002
Posts: 544
|
|
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by dorelse
Well, to that end, the company I work for has banned all PDA's & Smartphones from the office. 15,000 employees all had their PDA's banned.
|
Well now if they would ban; all meetings (won't remember when they are anyway, things to do or remember (I am a helpless puppy without my task list), notes and memos (I can't memorize everything I read) and email, voice mail, IM, etc. and supply me with a PHA (Personal Human Assistant) maybe I can actually be able to get something done.
Maybe the company should focus more time on not giving their employees any reason to be devious or careless with confidential information.
|
| |
|
|
|
05-27-2005, 06:10 AM
|
|
Ponderer
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 99
|
|
GUI version
my job bans PDAs sometimes. the problem is that they don't warn us, you just come in one day and security says "you can't bring that in here". i don't drive to work, so when that happens, i usually call my boss from the front desk, tell him i can't bring my PDA in, and then go back home. then i leave it home for a couple of weeks, and all of a sudden, it's ok to bring them in again.
my job has other stupid rules as well, but if i give any more away, i risk the dreaded NDA 
|
| |
|
|
|
05-27-2005, 06:43 AM
|
|
Ponderer
Join Date: Jan 2005
Posts: 108
|
|
sounds a bit stupid, if you ask me
What a dumb concern. If you ban lifedrives/ipods/PPCs/USB flashdisks but continue to allow laptops in your company, which is the bigger threat to security?????
LouisB
|
| |
|
|
|
05-27-2005, 07:30 AM
|
|
Thinker
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 485
|
|
You can always email sensitive information out of the office in various shapes or forms. Innumerable other ways to compromise a company existed before USB devices (iPods/PDAs/Memory Sticks) were around.
Goodness, you could even write a letter to someone with company secrets in it.
But clearly anyone with a PDA, Smartphone or iPod will be led into temptation and must be protected for their own good. Madness.
|
| |
|
|
|
05-27-2005, 08:45 AM
|
|
Thinker
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 398
|
|
The worst problem at my school is people boot Linux from their flash drives, grabbing the network password hashes and then cracking them. We thought all we had to do was ban booting from flash drives but now they are running Linux once they have logged on as a windows process and grabbing the hashes. Arghhhhh :twisted:
|
| |
|
|
|
05-27-2005, 12:12 PM
|
|
Thinker
Join Date: Nov 2004
Posts: 429
|
|
I work on projects for the Navy. My last job had me working in a Navy owned facility where cell phones were banned and I had to get a property pass for my Pocket PC and laptop.
I now work in a field office in the same community for another company on the same project. For now my Axim x30 is safe, as is my cell phone. However, I sometimes have to run to other sites, many of which are owned by a competitor, and there's no telling from one to the next where I can bring either my PPC or cell. A lot of people I work with have no idea what to do when their cell phones get outdated because it's next to impossible to get one without a camera or recording device built in, and banning them is right around the corner. We were once working on a project that embeded a Word document in an Adobe file for recording, so people could take it on a Tablet PC, but the Navy won't allow tablet PCs so that project got scrapped and they get to use paper printouts like they have all along.
Technology is both a blessing and a curse. It makes our lives easier, so long as we're allowed to have it.
Don't make me go back to buying Franklin Planner refills!
__________________
Current devices: iPhone 3G. Previous devices: Samsung Epix and 1st gen 32GB iPod Touch BlackJack II, iPaq 6945, iPaq hx4705, Dell Axim x30 high, iPaq 3765.
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
Linear Mode
