[IP] New report shows privacy vulnerability of business travelers
Delivered-To: dfarber+@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Tue, 24 Feb 2004 22:23:02 -0800
From: "Burt,David" <david_burt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: New report shows privacy vulnerability of business travelers
To: dave@xxxxxxxxxx
Dave,
Rodney Thayer and I had fun running around San Francisco testing Internet
security. I was pretty shocked by what we found, and your Politech readers
might enjoy it too. He wrote a report for Secure Computing, ?Remote
Insecurity: How Business Travelers Risk Exposing Their Companies When
Remotely Accessing Company Networks.? available at
<http://www.securecomputing.com/pdf/remoteinsecurity.pdf>http://www.securecomputing.com/pdf/remoteinsecurity.pdf
Posing as a business traveler, Thayer tested the possibility of password
theft in multiple locations such as an Internet kiosk in an airport, an
Internet café, as well as an in-room hotel broadband network, and wireless
access at a coffee shop. Thayer found multiple methods available to
cyber-criminals that could be used to steal passwords and corporate
information.
Wireless access points are especially vulnerable to ?sniffing,? Thayer
found. Tests conducted at an airport Internet café and at a popular chain
of coffee shops showed that unencrypted streams of data from the laptops of
patrons could easily be seen in many instances by another patron sitting
nearby with wireless ?sniffer? software.
Even behind the closed doors of a national hotel chain, using a wired
broadband Internet connection is risky business. Thayer documented how a
hotel guest can use widely available snooping software with a laptop logged
onto the hotel network. The guest can successfully snoop on the hard
drives of fellow guests who have ?file sharing? enabled on their PCs.
Corporate data and passwords can easily be stolen.
Publicly available Internet kiosks and workstations, such as those found in
Internet cafés, hotel and airport ?business centers? and trade show floors
were also shown to have multiple vulnerabilities. Widely available
?keyboard logging? software could be secretly downloaded and installed on
public terminals that have not been properly secured, allowing a
cyber-criminal to collect and steal passwords and other private
information. Even a properly secured workstation can leave a business
traveler vulnerable to password theft ? by low tech ?shoulder surfing.?
David Burt
Public Relations Manager
Secure Computing®
Securing connections between people, applications, and networks?
<http://www.securecomputing.com/>www.securecomputing.com
NASDAQ: SCUR
1-206-892-1130 (Direct Phone)
1-800-971-2622 (Main Phone)
1-206-683-9508 (Mobile Phone)
1-206-834-1788 (Fax)
<mailto:David_Burt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>David_Burt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Secure Computing Corporation, Seattle Office
900 Fourth Avenue, Suite 3600
Seattle, WA 98164
USA
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