XP/USB Security Worries

  • Thread starter Thread starter walmergreen
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walmergreen

Hi
Am using a hired laptop to carry out some important work. I have my own
software on a 256mb USB card, which has financial transactions and
client personal details that require to remain private. Do I have a
security issue here? can anyone using the laptop after me, recover
information that I created on the Card with software that was operated
via the card and not the C drive. The corporate view is that hiring the
laptops is a better deal, and they have very special software that they
don't wish to be transferred to other computers. Even though they are
my main contract, I do have others and don't really want to lug around
a second laptop...hence the USB Card
Grateful for any info???
Regards
Alex
 
As long as you do not copy any files from your USB storage
device to the laptop's hard drive, you won't have any security issues.

As a precaution , run the following program after using the laptop
and removing the USB device:

System Security Suite (3S) is a program designed to remove internet tracks
and junk files from your computer. It allows you to delete Cookies,
clear Internet Explorer Cache, delete index.dat Files, clear Typed URLs,
Windows Temp Folder and much more.
http://www.igorshpak.net/

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User
Microsoft Newsgroups

Get Windows XP Service Pack 2 with Advanced Security Technologies:
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/protect/windowsxp/choose.mspx

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

:

| Hi
| Am using a hired laptop to carry out some important work. I have my own
| software on a 256mb USB card, which has financial transactions and
| client personal details that require to remain private. Do I have a
| security issue here? can anyone using the laptop after me, recover
| information that I created on the Card with software that was operated
| via the card and not the C drive. The corporate view is that hiring the
| laptops is a better deal, and they have very special software that they
| don't wish to be transferred to other computers. Even though they are
| my main contract, I do have others and don't really want to lug around
| a second laptop...hence the USB Card
| Grateful for any info???
| Regards
| Alex
|
|
| --
| walmergreen
 
Just as Carey said, generally there is no security issue if you didn't leave
anything on that laptop.

You can edit the document directly on the USB card so that there won't be
any temp file created on the laptop. But the speed might be much slower.
Also, the media of the USB sometimes might not be stable after frequent read
and write.

If you temporarily copied your work to the laptop, you must delete it after
return it. But the Windows standard delete action is not thorough. The better
way is to use a third-party software such as Symantec Wipe to destroy the
files throughly.

Another hidden security trouble is that a cracker can install a key-strike
spy software to log every key press. Some powerful program can even log the
screen even couple of seconds. You will not be aware of its existence. After
you return the laptop, he can borrow it and check the log file strored in a
hidden folder. Please check the threads in the task manager to see whether
there is some suspected threads active.
 
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