Oh dear. This old chesnut again. Michael is absolutely right. They need an information security policy to cover use, storage and transport of data before they go leaping to BBC1 'Spooks' solutions.
If I want to acquire data off a hooky laptop, first thing I do is remove the hard drive to a usb enclosure and set to with my Linux data recovery tools. Do not turn on machine, do not pass go, do not collect £200... And I'm an amateur. Never done such a thing. Ever. Of course... -- Rgds RC Robin Catling Full Circle Podcast On 14 November 2012 10:24, Michael Pavling <pavl...@gmail.com> wrote: > On 14 November 2012 10:04, Tony Whitmore <t...@tonywhitmore.co.uk> wrote: > >> I quite agree Michael, but at the moment encryption is not what they are >> looking to do. >> > > Ah... I see, corporates have made a decision about a solution, and are now > looking for a problem it fits :-) > > What is their use-case scenario? > > - Michael loses his Ubuntu laptop in a house burglary, which has company > confidential information on it. > > - Michael calls the helpdesk and they send out a "wipe" command. > > - Ronnie (the burglar) turns on Michael's laptop at home, and is > presented with an Ubuntu login screen. Scratching his head, he gives the > machine to Reggie (his techie mate), who installs a hooky "MS Windows X" > onto the machine, wiping everything that was on there... > > Are they relying at some point on Ronnie or Reggie plugging the machine > into their home ethernet to receive the "wipe" signal? What if Reggie goes > one step further, and slaves your hard drive in his desktop? - no "wipe" > signal will be received now, and he can browse your data at his heart's > content. > > The "remote wipe" stuff works well for machines that have their own > network connections (3G phones and tablets), but for a desktop or laptop, > it's not that likely to be of much use. If the machine auto-logs in, so > that Ronnie or Reggie can at least use it (and maybe be tempted to hook it > up to their network at this point), it would work, but why would you set up > your machines to auto-login if you're worried about your data in the first > place?! :-) > > Probably not the best security if security is the primary concern... > > > > -- > Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk > Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire > LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk > -------------------------------------------------------------- >
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