Why Are UK Defense Ministry Officials Carrying Classified Info On USB Keys?
from the seems-like-a-reasonable-question dept
Over in the UK, the Defense Ministry is admitting to the fact that it's lost plenty of laptops with classified info on them. That, alone, isn't really all that newsworthy, given how common it is for governments around the world to lose such things. What was more interesting was the admission that employees have also lost 26 portable memory sticks (USB keys) with classified info on them (out of a total of 131 memory sticks lost). Given just how easy it is to lose such USB keys, it makes you wonder why they would ever put classified info on them. One would hope that any such info would be encrypted, but the report doesn't seem to indicate one way or the other on that.
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Filed Under: classified, lost data, memory sticks, uk, usb keys
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first!
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Re: first!
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third
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wtf?
The need for convenience doesn't come to a complete standstill because somethings *OMFGCLASSIFIED*. It's an absurd knee jerk reaction to make that claim. People still need to get work done, even when their work involves confidential documents.
Oh, and before anyone goes all ape shit over confidential being matter of utmost national security or other stupid shit, let's just clear this up right now. Almost every damn thing an office worker does for any gov't department does is classified. Even NOFORN is considered "classified".
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Does 4Gb = 1 human lifetime..?
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Re: wtf?
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Re: wtf?
You have to weigh the risk against the convenience.
I agree that convenience does help get work done, but there can be some technical protection put in place. Certainly something like an IronKey would help, but there are other solutions out there that would prevent the disclosure of information should one of these standard USB devices get plugged in and later turn up missing (i.e. PGP utilizing USB tokens where the secret never leaves the token).
Not everything a govt. office worker does is classified, and as a matter of fact, subscribing to that school of though is what has landed the Bush administration in some hot water. If you classify everything, then nobody will treat the information as sensitive. It is like crying wolf, if human intelligence reports and the organization's annual BBQ hold the same classification then you have cheapened the caveat and compromised lives.
There is such a thing as UNCLASSIFIED, and most govt. workers operate at that level. Depending on what agency you work for you may have other levels such as FOUO (For Official Use Only), which basically means don't distribute it to the media or others without an official need, and LAW ENFORCEMENT SENSITIVE. If these documents were to be leaked they would not cause a nuclear holocaust.
Just to close up on your rhetoric; NOFORN is a caveat modifier, not a classification itself, and can be added to any level of classification. It places a restriction that the originating country should not share it with intell partners from other countries.
Next time you decide to post something get your OMFG//SHIT//STRAIGHT.
I will not allow jackasses like you to blow this off as a non-story. It is 2008 and there is technology to protect data that lazy, over-billing, fat-asses (much like yourself), have access to. I know your type (govt. contractor) and I take pride every time I get to pull a $100K salary and maybe even a retirement away from one of you. Stop being a leach and jump on board with the rest of us, or, suffer our policies, procedures, and best practices. Information has become worth more than gold my friend.
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Today, personal information on government employees is considered classified. So, if you have your address or a colleague's address on your thumb drive, the loss attributes to the number of cases reported.
I hope someone steals my laptop, so I can get a new one. Oh no! Classified information: 0 me: 1
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Re: wtf?
Oh, and it's not just anyone's data being lost, it's the f**king Ministry Of Defence! Even if the documents aren't vital to national security, you'd think they have some idea about how the secure their own files.
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There's another issue here
Do the sums. It's bad enough that they loose a laptop every 3 weeks, but they've had a laptop stolen every 3 days, for 4 years!
Of course the money wasted doesn't compare with other government scandals, but surely it merits more than a shrug!
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USB Key
I know, any encryption can be broken, but if we go along that line I hope you don't have a computer... or paper. Any working computer or any non working computer with chunks bigger than a dime can be cracked and miss-used. Any transport method can be intercepted. We just need to be as careful as possible. Like, don't leave USB drives in your unlocked car.
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Subdermals!
Bob: Hey Jim, I heard you lost your data. How'd that happen?
Jim: Lawnmower accident. (Holds up stump)
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