DaMaGeINC
The Lan Man
Premium
join:2002-06-08
Greenville, SC
clubs:
 ·Charter Pipeline
 ·AT&T Southeast
| lol
Cant wait for someone to show up on my door step wanting to sell some laptop to me. I have some crazy friends that do things like this, then when things cool down, they try to sell the laptops for drugs or money.
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Smith6612
Premium
join:2008-02-01
united state
1 edit | wow...
Imagine Charter trying to get out of this mess, with someone running around with all of someone's personal information. If it has Social Security ID or Credit card/bank account info, then they are in for some deep doo doo, especially the employees. |
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ninjatutle
Premium
join:2006-01-02
San Ramon, CA
1 edit | reply to DaMaGeINC
Re: lol
You need new friends. The next laptop they might steal will be yours. |
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NetAdmin
CCNA
join:2008-05-22
| Small world
I was talking one of the folks I work with and he was one of the people that received notice from Charter about this. It was ironic too because we were talking about a disk encryption project and how it is going to prevent data theft from our company if a laptop gets lost of stolen.
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Eleven years of carrying The Clue Bat... |
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DaMaGeINC
The Lan Man
Premium
join:2002-06-08
Greenville, SC
clubs: | reply to ninjatutle
Re: lol
True. But I make sure I show them all the security around my house, and I make it a point to know where they live and who they hang around. Plus, I dont let them in when they come over. Anything they have to tell me, they can do it outside. |
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Lexxion
join:2006-11-22
Ridgewood, NY
·Verizon Online DSL
| leave data "at home"
I noticed that a lot of employee/customer data gets stored on laptops. That is just asking for trouble. I would think they have a remote database in the company when one can remote login etc. There should be stricter laws as what can be stored on laptops in the company.
What other solutions to these problems are there? |
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ITALIAN926
join:2003-08-16
Stratford, CT
| sigh
Maybe it should be a corporate RULE that personal information not be on LAPTOPS.. HELLOOOOO... Its a lot harder to steal or lose a desktop.
They probably stole the laptops for the actual hardware, not for the information on it.. but now, thanx for tellin them. LOL |
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insomniac84
join:2002-01-03
Schererville, IN
1 edit | reply to Lexxion
Re: leave data "at home"
I was thinking the same thing. Why are copies of data like this being placed on laptops? It should be in a central protected location. It would be interesting if these companies had to disclose why so much customer information was on one computer. |
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Matt
Take me down to the paradise city
Premium
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC
·North State Commun..
| reply to Lexxion
said by Lexxion  :What other solutions to these problems are there? One that AIG implemented back in 2005. Full disk encryption and pre-boot password. Type the password wrong 3 times and you're completely locked out. |
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ninjatutle
Premium
join:2006-01-02
San Ramon, CA | reply to DaMaGeINC
Re: lol
So you are their pusher? |
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DaMaGeINC
The Lan Man
Premium
join:2002-06-08
Greenville, SC
clubs: | No, But I have got calls and people have showed up at my door with stuff like this. People know that im heavily involved in computer stuff, so im sometimes the 1st person they come to, to get rid of stuff. |
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Skippy25
join:2000-09-13
Hazelwood, MO
| reply to Matt
Re: leave data "at home"
We use a program called SafeBoot at work.
It makes support a pain in the butt, but it at least provides some serious security.
You can also use TrueCrypt which is free for personal use. I use that on my drive as well. I created a 10GB encrypted file and my personal stuff is in there.
That same type technology is going to be required for all external devices attaching to any company laptop. You wont be allowed to just copy data, you will have to create an encrypted file to put the stuff in and then provide the password to the person that needs access. |
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Skippy25
join:2000-09-13
Hazelwood, MO | reply to ITALIAN926
Re: sigh
I think it would be a better corporate policy to encrypt every drive. |
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Smith6612
Premium
join:2008-02-01
united state
 ·Dish Network
·Verizon Online DSL
·FrontierNet Intern..
| reply to DaMaGeINC
Re: lol
I'm quite involved in computer services as well. A lot of the people I've worked with literally told me that they would really only trust me fixing their computers and cleaning them out. Like most recently I had to fix a computer (a Dell OptiPlex GX270) with blown capacitors on the motherboard, and this system was for a business who used it as a cash register. So I have a lot of trust on my hands, and sometimes quite a bit of important data on my hands as well I have to take care of. |
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JamesPC
join:2005-10-12
Orange, CA | reply to DaMaGeINC
lol, sounds like crack heads. I would have more respect for myself and get new friends. |
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DaMaGeINC
The Lan Man
Premium
join:2002-06-08
Greenville, SC
clubs: | Not really friends, how about people that I know and know me. My REAL friends would never do stuff like that. And yes, most of the do alot of drugs, and prolly wont go anywhere in life. |
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bgraham
join:2001-03-15
Smithtown, NY
 ·Verizon FIOS
| reply to Skippy25
Re: sigh
The credit card company that I worked for was also very good at protecting their laptops.
We had encryption with only 3 password tries at boot time before it locked us out. Even if the laptop was stolen all the data was encrypted.
Plus we had a keychain with an eight digit password that changed every 30 seconds. We could not logon to the VPN without the keychain password. In addition our VPN monitored our encryption software, so we used to get warnings that if we did not update our encryption software within 24 hours we would no longer be able to connect to the VPN.
It really does not take much to be secure. I think most all of these "lost laptop" horror stories could be prevented if the IT people had any interest in security.
I have told this story hear before, I used to work in a small office building and next door was a company that issued bank cards. One of my co workers got the dreaded RIAA threatening letter from his ISP for running a p2p server at home. The bank card company next door had a completely open wireless network so every day he would bring in his laptop and run his p2p server through their network. All of their desktop computers, their routers and their server was completely open to the public. |
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NetLarry
join:2007-03-18
Johnstown, PA
| Missed me (this time...)
I work for another cable co and we were previously owned by Charter - fortunately not any more. Unfortunately for those employees who have worked here for many years, they just got the letter from Charter about the theft.
"...it is strongly recommended that you take advantage of the free ID TheftSmart service offered by Charter through Kroll, Inc."
Oopsie....lets hope that it was just a crackhead trying to get a few bucks as opposed to an identity theft ring. All we can do is watch and wait. I know there are a few people around the office who are less than happy about this.
NetLarry |
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Lazlow
join:2006-08-07
Saint Louis, MO
| reply to Matt
Re: leave data "at home"
If the people are really after the data and not the hardware this is easy to bypass. You just pull out the drive and mount it on a system that prevents writes to the drive (easy in linux). It will take time to break the encryption. The more data and the more the people trying to break the encryption know about the data, the faster they can break it. |
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