The Opportunistic Hacker

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  • Good points Steve and unfortunately far too common. A good Kensington Lock Kit costs around $20, interesting to see a raise of hands here, how many use those regularly?, and how many breach the simplest security practices by having data of any value on their portables?

    😎

    Note that if the laptop was turned on, a good hacker would not have much of a problem breaching security measures such as disk encryption, given that he could "operate" on it within the lifetime of the battery.

  • Wow! Seriously? People actually do that? Why the hell would ANYONE in their right mind trust such a person they've just met with their laptop? That's like handing them your wallet and expecting them to stick around. Just plain stupid.

    --Jeff Moden


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  • Eirikur Eiriksson (4/13/2015)


    ..... A good Kensington Lock Kit costs around $20, interesting to see a raise of hands here, how many use those regularly?....

    Do you really think these are secure?

    One of the Security Managers that I worked with, one of the better ones, was going on about these locks and how it would take too much time to break on his laptop. Then he promptly went to a meeting. Took less than 10 seconds to bypass and then move the laptop to a more secure position :rolleyes: The Security Manager was eventually amused.

  • Yet Another DBA (4/14/2015)


    Eirikur Eiriksson (4/13/2015)


    ..... A good Kensington Lock Kit costs around $20, interesting to see a raise of hands here, how many use those regularly?....

    Do you really think these are secure?

    One of the Security Managers that I worked with, one of the better ones, was going on about these locks and how it would take too much time to break on his laptop. Then he promptly went to a meeting. Took less than 10 seconds to bypass and then move the laptop to a more secure position :rolleyes: The Security Manager was eventually amused.

    Nothing is perfectly secure but there is a big difference between these products, some are really bad while others have motion detection, build in alarm etc. All WYPIWYG;-)

    😎

  • Well, if you can't trust someone you just met in a coffee shop then who can you trust?

  • Company I worked for did regular searches of the internet for the use of their name. One hit came back on Ebay. A stolen laptop was being advertised for sale and one of the selling points was that it was filled with company data. Thieves are opportunists, but not necessarily bright opportunists.

    "The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood"
    - Theodore Roosevelt

    Author of:
    SQL Server Execution Plans
    SQL Server Query Performance Tuning

  • Even *using* a company laptop in a public place poses a security risk, as people can look over you shoulder and see your data on screen. As for leaving it powered up with a stranger in a public place, that is stupidity deserving of disciplinary action. Our offices are classed as 'secure' in that access is controlled, yet we are still required to lock our screens when leaving our laptops in the office.

    We are not allowed to leave laptops in view in locked cars, nor overnight/for any length of time (out of view) in locked cars at all. And these are all machines with whole-disk encryption.

    Also, it is good practice, when refuelling your car to lock it whilst paying for the fuel. Many years ago, one of our employees failed to observe this basic precaution and had his company car, complete with laptop, stolen from the petrol station.

    I am fortunate to work for a company which takes the security of its own data and that of its clients very seriously, and adopts technology and practices accordingly.

  • It is the argument that access should be via remote desktop for administrators and the laptop being a bland install with no tools. Enables the security team to lock the account or bar the latop connection as soon as they become aware.

  • Personally, I wouldn't be sitting around working in a Starbucks. Then again, I'm also the semi-paranoid type who won't use public wireless networks for work at all because they aren't secure. I've heard and read too many instances of people getting things hijacked and just don't use them.

    My company has some good rules for working with data. No unencrypted copies of data, full disk encryption, don't take data home, make sure your devices are protected and encrypted, etc. Mostly common sense stuff, but making it policy makes it more real for everyone and enforceable. I don't have to like everything that's in place, but I certainly do respect it. The alternative is to bury your head in the sand and not believe anything bad can happen - until it does.

  • All this "never use public WIFI" and "never work in public" might be viable when you have a job that requires you to show up in an office from 9-5. But if you're travelling as part of your work or you're a consultant without an office, or you're a person working for a company remotely, or your place of employment is one of the growing trend where they don't need you to be in the office every day, and probably many other reasons I can't think of, you may find yourself in a restaurant, at a library, in an airport, definitely in a hotel, using your laptop. It's unreasonable to assume otherwise. Yeah, the person who walked away from their laptop in the care of a random stranger in a completely open environment like a Starbucks, they pretty much deserve what they get. But there are a lot of us taking all the precautions we reasonably can, but can't just wall ourselves off in our cube in order to avoid everything and everyone that might be risky.

    Oh, and why have a laptop at all then?

    "The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood"
    - Theodore Roosevelt

    Author of:
    SQL Server Execution Plans
    SQL Server Query Performance Tuning

  • I'm so paranoid I'd hardly trust someone to save my place in line to go to the restroom.

  • Our CEO had her laptop stolen at an airport. I've never heard yet how that happened. It's been kept a secret. Must have been something like your Starbucks story.

  • Grant Fritchey (4/14/2015)


    All this "never use public WIFI" and "never work in public" might be viable when you have a job that requires you to show up in an office from 9-5. But if you're travelling as part of your work or you're a consultant without an office, or you're a person working for a company remotely, or your place of employment is one of the growing trend where they don't need you to be in the office every day, and probably many other reasons I can't think of, you may find yourself in a restaurant, at a library, in an airport, definitely in a hotel, using your laptop. It's unreasonable to assume otherwise. Yeah, the person who walked away from their laptop in the care of a random stranger in a completely open environment like a Starbucks, they pretty much deserve what they get. But there are a lot of us taking all the precautions we reasonably can, but can't just wall ourselves off in our cube in order to avoid everything and everyone that might be risky.

    Oh, and why have a laptop at all then?

    But then you really ought to be using (at the very least) a VPN. and all the other security others have mentioned (whole disk encryption etc etc).

  • Anyone use a bait computer, leave the table, stare at it from a crack in the bathroom door waiting for it to be taken so you can tackle the idiot that takes it? I have. No one took it. What a let down.

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