Comments on: laptop and data theft protection

By: James C

James C — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 19:12:11 +0000

@fever
Very true

By: fever

fever — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 18:58:18 +0000

and if i forget to change the parameters before i decide to take my laptop with me in the car on a road trip across the country than i am screwed.
oops.

By: Pantagruel

Pantagruel — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 08:54:52 +0000

Whether you have the precious data on the laptop itself, some remote server, there will always be a chance of someone nicking/exposing/exploiting it. It’s quite funny that a large amount of people carry their data around non-encrypted, guess they need some teaching.

@tekse7en
Well guess you’ll have some slight problems explaining at the custom’s or at checking why you are carrying an incendiary device onto a plane. They last time I flew they where very interrested in the model and batch nr of my laptop, guess they where looking for battery packs with spontaneous combustion properties.

By: tekse7en

tekse7en — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 06:31:16 +0000

I’ve got a better idea. Make a laptop that comes with a corresponding RFID necklace or bracelet or something of that such. Then, when laptop leaves the vicinity, a pack of thermite right above the hard drive ignites… Sorry, too much thebroken.

By: zupakomputer

zupakomputer — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 17:22:11 +0000

Plus, even if a server of any kind isn’t on a WAN, they’re still exploitable by all manner of means - Tempest hacks, Ethernet bridge plugs, logins that got around traditional security to get building access….

By: eM3rC

eM3rC — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 03:04:56 +0000

@Dan
Although it would be a simple and easy thing to do there are a couple of reasons why I would never do something like that. First, all your information, along with everyone else’s is stashed on a server. Image if someone hacked into the root folder and stole all of the information. Second, I like to keep my information private. By storing it all on a server how easy would it be for the government to get a warrant and download all that information. Yes, you could save it to a CD/DVD/flash drive, etc but in the long run why can’t we keep our information on our personal property and keep that private.

Talking about terminals, it would seem like a good idea for companies or other organizations were users do not own the computers or have any reason to have their own personal software on them, but for personal purposes, a private laptop seems like the best option.

By: Dan

Dan — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 18:16:47 +0000

Good lord - all they have to do is run a freakin’ terminal server and not keep the data on the bloody laptop!

I know, I know - too simple so it can’t work in real life…

By: eM3rC

eM3rC — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 20:37:58 +0000

re: about the phones

There was an article on Pop Sci about those kind of games. The newest one is an MMORPG type game that is supposed to hit off almost as well as World of Warcraft (although it will only be in Japan, maybe China). With a little bit of googleing I bet there would be a way to change the circuitry around so you could use one of their phones in the UK/US/etc

By: zupakomputer

zupakomputer — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 13:20:20 +0000

re: Japanese phones - I know of one market for them outwith Japan: some run videogames that only exist on those phones! eg - the Gradius series had Japan-mobile-only releases called Neo and Imperial.

Of course gaming on mobiles isn’t as satisfying given the screen and button sizes / configs, but even just as collectibles there’s certainly people who’d be more than happy to get their hands on some of those games.

By: Pantagruel

Pantagruel — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 19:38:40 +0000

Google should turn up some windows based 7 passs DoD erasers and there are several secure file erasers available as well. No experience with those, I tend to use DBAN either on sub stick or cd