Is Google Focusing On The Wrong Kinds Of... >>
<< Meet The New VCs... Same As The Old VCs?
 tdicon 
The Price Of Free WiFi? Stringent Filters? >>
<< More Police Attacks For Loud Mobile Phone Use
 | 

Overhype

by Mike Masnick

Tue, Sep 28th 2004 7:46am





Those Pesky Evil iPods Again

from the ban-everything dept

Remember the Gartner report that claimed iPods were a risk to the workplace because (oh no!) someone might connect it to their computer and steal corporate secrets? The same one that was rumored (but later denied) to have convinced the UK military to ban iPods? Well, it looks like security folks are trying to drum up more business on that front, talking about just how big a security threat USB and Firewire ports are. Admittedly, there is some risk, and the fact that most security pros are focused on external problems coming into at the router level, rather than problems introduced at the computer level is an issue. However, most computers nowadays have client-side anti-virus programs which would catch such malicious files coming over a USB connection. The other fear, that people will use it going outbound (downloading corporate secrets to the iPod), is a problem that is never going to go away. There's always going to be some way to get information off of a computer, whether by floppy disk, by email attachment, by FTP, by camera phone, by printing, by writing it down or even by iPod. That's the nature of information, and making a big stink about how dangerous this particular interface is seems to be building this up into a bigger problem than it really should be.

7 Comments | Leave a Comment

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments (rss)

(Flattened / Threaded)

  1.  
    identicon
    podder, Sep 28th, 2004 @ 10:15am

    iPod Security Risk

    A very large cable company (rhymes with Tom Fast) just added that very policy to their company employee handbook.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  2.  
    identicon
    Slappy, Sep 28th, 2004 @ 12:40pm

    No Subject Given

    They should ban floppies.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  3.  
    identicon
    crankysysadmin, Sep 29th, 2004 @ 3:58am

    Re: ban

    And camera phones.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  4.  
    identicon
    eeyore, Sep 29th, 2004 @ 5:18am

    No Subject Given

    They're freaking out about USB drives and ignoring the fact that every new PC we purchase comes with a CD burner unless it's for management in which case it has a DVD burner. And nearly all of them have a Zip drive too. Funny how nobody seems to worry about all the handhelds though.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  5.  
    identicon
    greylurk, Sep 29th, 2004 @ 6:44am

    Re: ban

    My work does... No Camera Phones, floppies, or recordable media at work. We're only running NT4, so the whole USB drive issue hasn't come up.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  6.  
    identicon
    Martin rothe, Sep 29th, 2004 @ 9:32am

    Re: banning USB drives

    i use my jumpdrive @ school to steal full versions of apps all the time...
    ...i hope they dont ban them.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  7.  
    identicon
    hmmmm, Jun 20th, 2007 @ 7:54pm

    If all else fails, it's not that tricky to open a case and take an HDD home... Of course it would be wrong to do that. Not difficult at all, - but wrong... :)

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]


Add Your Comment

Have a Techdirt Account? Sign in now. Want one? Register here
Get Techdirt’s Daily Email
Save me a cookie
  • Note: A CRLF will be replaced by a break tag (<br>), all other allowable HTML will remain intact
  • Allowed HTML Tags: <b> <i> <a> <em> <br> <strong> <blockquote> <hr> <tt>
Is Google Focusing On The Wrong Kinds Of... >>
<< Meet The New VCs... Same As The Old VCs?
 tdicon 
The Price Of Free WiFi? Stringent Filters? >>
<< More Police Attacks For Loud Mobile Phone Use
 | 
Follow Techdirt
Flattr rss rss
A word from our Sponsors...
Sponsored Resource
Essential Reading
Techdirt Reading List
Techdirt Insider Chat

A word from our Sponsors...
Recent Stories

Sunday

12:00pm: Funniest/Most Insightful Comments Of The Week At Techdirt (7)

Saturday

12:00pm: Sophisticatedjanedoe / FightCopyrightTrolls Favorite Techdirt Posts Of The Week (73)
9:00am: Awesome Stuff: Cool Product Designs (10)

Friday

7:39pm: Rice University Professor: SkyNET's Gonna Take Ur Jerbs! (63)
6:33pm: Make Art, Not Law (9)
5:27pm: AP's Attempt At DRM'ing The News Shuts Down (16)
5:00pm: DailyDirt: DIY Junk Food (3)
3:40pm: Suburban Express Goes Double Or Nothing On Their Aggressive Behavior (9)
2:34pm: Want To Destroy Any Hope Of Serious Cybersecurity? Give The DOJ Its Desired Backdoor Wiretaps On All Communications (20)
1:34pm: Nintendo Exchanges Goodwill For Control; Issues Mass Monetization Claims On Let's Play Videos (33)
More arrow
A word from our Sponsors...

Close

Email This