Tracking Bluetooth and Thwarting USB Spies
A few weeks ago I mentioned a way to track Bluetooth signals, and glibly said the only way to be secure with Bluetooth was to stay at least 30 feet away from everyone. Several people wrote about a recent Black Hat convention where attendees put a Yagi directional antenna on top of a rifle scope, and were able to pick up Bluetooth signals over a mile away.
Want absolute Bluetooth security? Stay more than 5,280 feet away from everyone.
Since that's not possible (although often desirable), check out my friend Tom Henderson's review of another Bluetooth spectrum analyzer called BlueScanner. The review also includes two general WiFi analyzers that may be of interest, as well.
Still on security, two companies have recently contacted me about their software that blocks USB ports and stops anyone (but especially employees) from downloading files to USB storage devices. If that's a concern, take a look at DeviceLock from SmartLine or one aimed at small and medium sized businesses, USB Lock Remote Protect, from AdvansysPeru.
Frankly, I'm skeptical about such products. I've been waiting for a cyber thriller hero to suck data from the villain's computer using a USB watch or a USB pen (both are for sale here, but these products could put an end to that idea. Of course, good thrillers always put obstacles in front of the hero, so my hero would get over his or her disappointment and just go find a vice president's computer and download the critical files from there (because VPs always demand IT take security off their systems, right?).
If you have an employee determined to steal files, can you realistically stop them? If stopping them is possible, and some vendors claim it is, can you afford to stop them? If you knew which employee, probably you could stop them. Can you afford to stop all 10,000 employees or 200 employees in your company from getting a copy to critical files? That's a much more difficult question to answer. Is that a technical or personnel problem? I say it's a personnel problem, because if your employees hate the company so much they'll steal files, the company is probably doomed already. But that answer won't make the VPs feel better, so keep buying security products and stay paranoid.
ITworld.com, Enterprise Networking
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