Security threats Toolkit

Story: iPods are security risk, warns analyst

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Good grief people, Talk about Knee Jerk reactions yoursleves.

In a properly secure environment Cd-Burner and floppy drive access is already controlled, document removal is not permitted without approval.

However the changing of devices into commonly connected items with comparatively massive storage via a 'secure' PC within the firewall needs to be flagged so that people identify the risk.

The so-clled obvious to you needed to be stated, what may be easily identified to a user may be extremely difficult for an IT security officer to get lock-down of additional PC functions without some form of info to back them up.

So it says iPod, as it has become the fashion accessory of the good & great (sic!) then why not use it to demonstrate the problem. Just how many people would have looked if it had said usb attachable devices are security risk - close to none I would suggest.

It is probable the the vast majority of people reading this do so at work where they have access to the internet and external E-mail - if so they are not working in a secure environment - only one where the network is not attached to the internet or the outside world, where control to writable media is allowed only to specific people and only in certain cases with validation and one where all print-outs have to be signed for and are recorded will be one that is secure from everything except it's own users; and even then they can be corrupted.

The time you spend with security is dependent upon how important the info you are working with is to you and to what extent it's loss or compromise will damage you or others. Security should be appropriate for the job in hand, new devices bring new risks, these should be identified so people have the option/ability to secure their data against such a system

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