Pentagon banning flash drives...

[nihil]

Well, from what I have seen over here it isn't that there aren't policies with the processes and procedures to support them.

It is more that the rank and file are not properly educated in applying them, or even understand why they are there?

A chain is only as strong as its weakest link

I do recall getting a filing cabinet........... seemed a bit "heavy" when it was delivered to my office.............. what I found in it was disturbing.......... even though well within my security clearance. And that was all paper documentation........... no computer systems involved.

[Linen0ise]

Just wanted to update this thread with a story the pentagon wants to forget. Military will never win this battle if their soldiers are not held responsible for their actions. Department of Defense is freaking out over it.

http://tinyurl.com/c3xwtc

[nihil]

Hmmm, an MP3 player eh?

Strange, but I read an article a few days ago about people using them for software piracy. I suppose they are really just a fancy thumb drive at the end of the day.

I can see the motive as the article would seem to suggest that the device was purchased around 2004. High capacity thumb drives were still quite expensive back then. Having said that, someone still broke the rules by bringing unauthorised equipment on site and connecting it to the system.

The trouble with this sort of technology is that it is small (and easily lost) and it is all too commonplace and familiar these days. As the saying goes: "familiarity breeds contempt", and people are just too blase.

I think that there is a bit of a psychological slant as well. Back in the day, we had removable HDDs in caddies and the computers had drive bays to accommodate them (I actually found a couple of them in my workshop the other day). When you were not using it you removed it and locked it away in a MoD approved secure cabinet.

This had a twofold effect:

1. Without the drive the computer won't work and its absence from the network would soon be noticed and investigated.

2. If you saw one you knew it contained secret material instinctively. After all you were used to locking them away.

And they would never be sold by accident as the procedure was to wipe them and physically destroy them.

Anyone in the know would immediately recognise one (assuming the caddy was still there) at a yard sale, second hand shop or whatever. They would buy it, and then the excrement would certainly hit the Venturi propeller.

My point is that there was this subconscious respect for them that thumb drives just don't generate.

[phernandez]

Just wanted to update this thread with a story the pentagon wants to forget. Military will never win this battle if their soldiers are not held responsible for their actions. Department of Defense is freaking out over it.

http://tinyurl.com/c3xwtc

The guy reportedly returned it along with the "only" copy of the data he made.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/...54bYAD960GL281

[oofki]

Rofl, phernandez good find. For 1 if you admit you copied it, is anyone going to believe you when you say you only made ONE! And it probably would be smart if he does have another copy of that info not to post it now that they know who had it :-P

[nihil]

The problem here seems to be one of an embarrassing exposure of lax security procedures?

The actual data are pretty much irrelevant after 3 years if you take into account the length of a tour of duty

[Linen0ise]

Chris should social engineer the airport by buying a ticket. That ticket will have a special code only the screeners could recognize. If he gets special screening treatment then you know the government does not trust him. He's on the terrorist watch lists.

His story sorta does not make since. Original articles stated he bought it for $9 not $18. It took him a year to notice those files? I am sure this person downloaded the instruction manual off the internet. If the government is smart, they would look at the metadata of those word\excel documents to monitor creation and last accessed dates. Hopefully they gave him pure LSD and hooked him up to a lie detector. If a real spy had access to those documents, they would cross index the authors of those documents with the names and address obtained for off-base access. 2005 or not, those people have to the clearance to be current and in-the-know. Breached.

[Linen0ise]

To add: the guy told reporters about the incident. Even had a journalist from her office prank call a soldier but yet he always had the device on his person. She was dumb enough to post some still pictures of the documents. She had to know that government was coming after it. So yeah, there are more copies. Stupid government.

[nihil]

LO,

If he gets special screening treatment then you know the government does not trust him. He's on the terrorist watch lists.

Last time I went to Ireland from the UK they asked me to take my shoes off.................. they won't make that mistake again (just check my avatar and the flies around Bill the Cat)

Original articles stated he bought it for $9 not $18.

I am guessing that might have something to do with the time difference between reports and the probability that we are talking USD (US Dollars) in one instance and NZD (New Zealand Dollars) in the other. I am not sure but I would have thought that a $1 (USD) = $2 (NZD) exchange rate has been possible over that timeframe?

OK those are just questions to take into consideration.

EDIT:

1.00 US dollars = 1.96 New Zealand dollars
Exchange rate: 1.963400 Rate valid as of: 2/2/2009