• Users *have* to start locking their screens when working remotely

    23 Mar 2010

    To continue on with the message in this previous post about users locking their screens while away from their computers I’m amazed at how naive people are with their computer usage in public places.

    I see it practically every time I’m at a coffee shop – someone leaves his/her laptop sitting at the table while he/she goes out to take a phone call, use the restroom, smoke a cigarette, talk with an employee across the store and provides someone with ill-intent enough time to snatch the computer away or, in some cases, sit there and monkey around with the computer.

    All it takes is about 60 seconds for someone to hop onto an unsecured computer, access sensitive files stored locally or via the corporate VPN and then delete them or email them out.

    Combine this vulnerability with unencrypted hard drives and Microsoft’s new always-on mobile intranet connection called DirectAccess and you’ve got yourself a big problem on your hands.