Ban iPods at work
p2pnet.net News:- If you’re running a company and you see someone walk in with an iPod, beware because the apple of Steve Jobs’ eye, and devices like it, are more than just music players, says a UK report.
Portable storage devices are ideal for anyone planning on stealing sensitive data and should be banned from corporate environments, states Britain’s Gartner.
And the vulnerability has existed since Microsoft Windows 2000, “the first widely deployed operating system able to mount a USB storage device automatically,” was released, it says.
“Businesses are increasingly putting themselves at risk by allowing the unauthorised and uncontrolled use of portable storage devices,” says a Gartner press release here, going on:
“The use of unauthorised portable storage devices poses many dangers, not least for the malicious code that they can introduce. High data capacity and transfer rates, and broad platform support mean that a Universal Serial Bus (USB) or FireWire (IEEE 1394) device has the capacity to quickly download much valuable corporate information, which can be easily leaked to the outside world.
“Portable devices include any kind of pocket-sized portable FireWire hard drive, like those from LaCie or Toshiba, or USB hard drive or keychain drive, such as M-Systems’ DiskOnKey. They also include disk-based MP3 players, such as Apple’s iPod, and digital cameras with smart media cards, memory sticks, compact flash and other memory media.”
Users can intentionally or unintentionally bypass “perimeter defences” such as firewalls and antivirus at mailserver, and introduce malware such as Trojan horses or viruses that, if not discovered, can cause serious damage, says Gartner.
“Companies should forbid the use of uncontrolled, privately owned devices with corporate PCs,” declares the release. “The prohibition should extend to employees, and external contractors with direct access to corporate networks.”
July 6th, 2004 at 5:02 pm
Hmmm, my current work PC has a CD burner, and I’ve never had one without a floppy drive, so I don’t think my keychain memory module really adds significantly to the security threat. Strange, my employer must just trust me. What could they be thinking?
July 6th, 2004 at 5:58 pm
Total rubbish
Is the work machine connected with network/internet access? Should they revoke them too? Most definately, especially if they are windows machines …
I can guarantee that more sensitive data is lost to the joke that is called windows than anyone is going to steal on their iPod …. by the thousandfold.
As a service tech I will tell you that literally 3/4 of the windows machines I work on are filled with spyware, virii, and backdoors. Sadly, most of them are inside corporate environments . . .
So to that I have to say: BOLLOCKS!
July 6th, 2004 at 6:35 pm
The article says:
And the vulnerability has existed since Microsoft Windows 2000, “the first widely deployed operating system able to mount a USB storage device automatically,” was released, it says.
Sounds to me like the whole thing is a ploy to set Microsoft up. I agree with the previous comments, from memory cards to CD burners, IPods aren’t going to make the any difference now in stealing information from your employer. If work allows you to have IPods hooked up to your computer, most likely they will let you have burners of all sorts installed as well.
Steve Jobs, clam it up pal and take responsibility for the chaos you are creating. Stop blaming Microsoft for incorporating USB’s into their OS.
July 6th, 2004 at 6:54 pm
Apples have USB ports too, good neighbor. It sounds more like this story is trying to cut into iPod’s market share. I carry an iPod to work everyday. I use it exclusively for digital audiobooks, so I get to read two or three books every week in my odd moments, travel time, lunch breaks. If my employer banned iPods at work it would inconvenience my life, since the conditions of my employment make it virtually impossible to leave my workplace for lunch. But how is the same employer going to defend against someone bringing in a thumb drive device? It seems easier and wiser to ban USB ports at work, as well as external drives, floppies, and CD burners. Install only dumb-terminal workstations with all data backup handled through a central office. Let employees have their few simple pleasures at work. Enough of this Fourth Reich crap! Down with the Fourth Reich!
July 6th, 2004 at 6:54 pm
Ooooh, a CD burner and a floppy. Why you might just be able to make off with a couple of Word documents with that.
An IPOD can hold 15GB (maybe more). With that, I could grab the entire database for one of our facilities. I’m not sure how fast the transfer rate is, but I imagine I could do it in a morning.
Of course, the correct answer is to lock data down so it can’t easily be transferred. It would take a DBA (i.e., me) to grab one of our facility’s entire database, and I’m not worried about me doing that anytime soon.
July 6th, 2004 at 7:30 pm
Size doesn’t matter. I can do a heck of a lot of damage by smuggling out my company’s entire client list on a 128 mb keychain storage device. A CD will hold about 5 copies of it. Doubting the capability of a CD in your security planning isn’t wise. (By the way- I can mount a USB device just as easily on any of my three Macs as I can on a Windoze machine…)
July 6th, 2004 at 7:33 pm
ditto …………what are we going to be forbidden to own next .. I have Wi-fi capability with read/write access to a ton of Corporate info that my employer TRUSTS me to safeguard and I do.
Come on stop the scare tactics !!
July 6th, 2004 at 8:54 pm
To be absolutely safe- let us go back to those thrilling days of yesteryear when all good worker-drones were given those horrible IBM Green screen dumb terminals. (BTW, let us not overlook all of the ones and zeroes that are readily avaible to the casual hacker on unsecured wireless LANS)
July 6th, 2004 at 9:21 pm
I like the old x-terminal.
July 7th, 2004 at 3:55 pm
What about laptops? Wouldn’t it be more dangerous to let users have a laptop computer?
SO… no MP3 players… no laptops… no CDRW drives… no floppy disks… no internet connections.
Seems like Gartner wants a PC that can’t do anything.