[access-uk] Re: Fw: [TAFN-TITBITS] Warnings over USB memory sticks

I agree, agree agree!

Any personal data on my drives, (especially portible flash ones), is encrypted using 256bit algorithms on an encrypted partition.

Loads think I'm over the top but even word docs that are passworded protected can be cracked wide open by dictionary attacks.


Ôà
----- Original Message ----- From: "Ray's Home" <rays-home@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, April 30, 2006 1:41 PM
Subject: [access-uk] Fw: [TAFN-TITBITS] Warnings over USB memory sticks


This was posted by Leon Gilbert on the TAFN titbits list. I've started using
USB sticks quite a lot myself now, and I know one guy who uses them a lot at
work. For how much longer? I've tried to point out the risks of these devices
before, only to be flamed and generally mis-understood. Those who see,
understandably, a way out of access to public PCs must realise if they read
this why some system admin folk aren't willing to co-operate in letting you
plug your USB device into their machines.

Well, enough of the intro, read on.
Ray

Personal emails:  Email me at
mailto:ray-48@xxxxxxxx

----- Original Message ----- From: "Leon Gilbert" To: <tafn-titbits@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>;
Sent: Sunday, April 30, 2006 1:26 PM
Subject: [TAFN-TITBITS] Warnings over USB memory sticks


: Warnings over USB memory sticks
: By Mark Ward
: Technology Correspondent, BBC News website
:
: US military secrets were found in USB sticks on sale outside airbase
:
: Smart phones, iPods and USB memory sticks are posing a real risk for
businesses, warn security
: experts.
:
: Just over half of companies take no steps to secure data held on these
devices, found a UK
: government-backed security survey.
:
: Now security firms are developing ways to help firms control access to the
confidential data held on
: the gadgets.
:
: They are also working on ways to stop the devices being used by viruses as a
way to bypass other
: digital defences.
:
: Data deluge
:
: Figures from the Information Security Breaches Survey, which is backed by the
Department of Trade
: and Industry, reveals how firms are struggling to control the growing use of
USB flash memory
: sticks.
:
: The survey found that 33% of firms tell staff not to use such devices but
rarely do anything to
: change the configuration of PCs and laptops to stop people moving data around
with USB sticks.
:
:
: Memory sticks make it easy to move lots of data around
: Only 10% of those companies interviewed for the survey encrypt the
confidential data stored on these
: portable devices.
:
: Dennis Szerszen, spokesman for security software firm Secure Wave, said in
some sense the risk
: portable storage systems pose has been around since the emergence of the
floppy disk.
:
: "But," he told the BBC News website, "that was just 360 kilobytes of risk not
four gigabytes that
: can be transferred in five minutes."
:
: The popularity of MP3 players and digital cameras was also driving the
development of a culture that
: is happy to carry around lots of data with them.
:
: Few companies were mandating use of USB sticks but their usefulness was
leading many people to carry
: and use them, said Mr Szerszen.
:
: As a result, many USB sticks and other portable media devices now carried
both private and business
: data. Vital business information, such as drug recipes or blueprints could
easily be stored on a USB
: stick, he said.
:
: Recently it was discovered that USB sticks full of US military secrets were
being sold on market
: stalls in Afghanistan.
:
: Mr Szerszen said Secure Wave has signed a deal with flash memory firm Lexar
so that certain
: potentially dangerous uses of the hardware are logged and flagged by its
security software.
:
: Swapping sticks
:
: Different ways to manage and monitor USB flash devices so they stay secure
were on show at the
: Information Security trade fair held at Olympia in London from 25-27 April.
:
: Some security measures encrypt data put on removable drives such as flash
memory sticks and others
: just keep an eye on what is being transferred back and forth.
:
: Matt Fisher, spokesman for Centennial Software, said USB sticks could also
become an attack vector
: for viruses and other malicious programs largely because they are swapped
between many different
: computers.
:
: "Everyone expects a virus to come through the [e-mail] gateway," he said, "No
one expects them to
: come in on a USB stick."
:
: An informal survey by Centennial showed that 66% of people mislay USB sticks
and that 60% of those
: devices have business information on them.
:
: Mr Fisher said firms needed a way to manage the information being stored on
these devices to ensure
: they keep copies of important data and to guard against it going missing by
accident or malice.
:
: SOURCE URL
:
: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4946512.stm
:

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