Arne Hess

Editor in Chief

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BBC News Online recently reported about an iPod ban at the UK military which was already denied by a spokesman but the story and thoughts behind it is a good one and also Windows Mobile related:

The Ministry of Defence has denied reports that it has banned Apple's iPod due to fears it could be used to steal sensitive files. News reports said the music player and other portable storage devices had been banned from most sections of its headquarters in the UK and abroad.
The potential security risks posed by portable storage devices that plug into a PC's USB or FireWire ports has been highlighted recently in a couple of reports.



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Roel Martens

I'm too lazy to register

What I don't understand that if a desktop pc is secured by a password and I plugin a usb device I will not be able to do anything except if my usb device cab hack through an usb port into the system which is impossible with an iPOD I think.  Is this not more a security issue on de current infrastructure and making sure that the right person can access the usb port an others are blocked?

Heinz

I'm too lazy to register

To disable the USB port is a easy as can be. Big companies uses software distribution systems and this systems also provides the needed USB drivers. If you plug in an unknown device it simply wont work.

But its true, a lot of companies disable diskette and CD drives but leave the USB port untouched.

Mike Beardsley

I'm too lazy to register

Roel,

The point is that most security breaches are not from the outside, but from users that have a password and are authorized to log in to the system. USB mass storage devices are a security risk because files that are protected by NTFS permissions while on the network, lose those protections when copied to the USB device because the file system on these devices is FAT. FAT has no access restrictions, so anyone with access to the USB device can read the files on it.