Web Surfing in Public Places Is A Way to Court Trouble

We had a story come in from the New York Times reminding people that web surfing in public places Is a way to court trouble. There's nothing in the story that is anything hugely new - but it does lead to an interesting question. What's the worst "on the road" security setups you've seen?

Sensationalist, at least about wireless

[markov_chain]

From TFA:

These software programs are called packet sniffers and many can be downloaded free online. They are typically set up to capture passwords, credit card numbers and bank account information -- which is why Mr. Vamosi says shopping on the Web is not a great way to kill time during a flight delay.

Michael Sellitto, a graduate student studying international security at Harvard, said that even though he encrypted any sensitive data on his laptop, he planned to sign up for a service like HotSpotVPN to add another level of security when he is traveling, especially when using poorly protected networks at cafes and hotels.

Have these guys heard of SSL? SSH? Can you say overkill? And who is this Sellitto guy, sounds like a liberal arts major that can't cut it in a real security field. *breathes into paperbag*

Re:Interesting question

[justinbach]

Wow, that's a sure sign I've had a rough weekend; my last post on Friday afternoon was a +5 Funny, and here I am Monday morning with a 0, Troll. I guess I need a hug... :-(

Re:classic diligence, albeit in a modern world

[gEvil (beta)]

So how much money did you make on that particular IPO? :-D

Re:Denver Airport

[ScottyH]

"bags"?

EVDO

[TrappedByMyself]

FTW

Terminal rooms in schools

[Anonymous Coward]

Back in the 80's when terminals and mainframes still ruled universities (don't know if they still do) students in CS classes still had to use the public terminals to do school work. Many of the students (especially in the introductory courses) seemed to be incapable of remembering to log out. The terminals were VTs so they didn't time you out or lock the screen. I was regularly logging people out when I saw them grab their stuff and leave. I finally got sick of it and started encouraging them to log out by, say, changing their default process name on the VAX to "{sys admin's name} SUCKS" or adding a line to their "INTRO TO CS" program that printed out their intention to hurt the president of the US. Don't know if it improved security but it sure amused me.

Re:Denver Airport

[__aaclcg7560]

"snakes" :P

Re:classic diligence, albeit in a modern world

[Control Group]

This reminds me of an anecdote I read somewhere, the details of which I mostly forget. So I wouldn't believe it, if I were you, but it's still amusing.

Dr. Smith is a medical researcher, helping run one end of a typical double-blind clinical trial of Unobtainasil, a new drug which is hoped to treat a severe condition. He's flying to Switzerland for a conference of some kind.

While in the airport, he happens to sit down next to Dr. Jones, whom he met a while back at another conference. They get to talking shop, as is not surprising - and it eventually comes out that Dr. Jones is also working on the clinical trials of Unobtainasil.

With great dismay, they realize they've just compromised the trial, and all the data will probably need to be thrown out.

Whoops.

Moral of the story: never talk about anything with anyone.

Re:Interesting question

[theskipper]

5 minutes?

Did you at least allow him a bathroom break during this time?

Conference Call

[onkelonkel]

Similar situation - except it was a conference call between us and a supplier (10 people in our office on a speakerphone talking to 10 people in their office). At some point we needed to discuss something amongst ourselves so we told the suppliers we were going "off the air" for a minute and put the phone on mute. To our amazement, the suppliers thought that because they could no longer hear us that we could no longer hear them. Their mic was still open and we heard the talking as if we were no longer listening. They were quite candidly discussing flaws in their equipment that we hadn't found yet, and trying to decide which imaginary ship date they were going to tell us given that their product wasn't really going to be ready for 4 more months.

Needless to say, we made the "off the air" discussion a part of every call we had with them.

Re:The virus of Troy wooden horse type

[Anonymous Coward]

Only in Asia will you find hotel rooms with both a Hello Kitty branded computer and a bunch of Trojans.

Re:Interesting question

[foamrotreturns]

No, you unplug the bastard and pocket it. Those things retail for about $90. Can you say eBay?

Re:Public computers

[pclminion]

If the machine is insecure enough to have a keylogger, it's hard to say what other kinds of software may be presesnt on the machine.

We Have The Solution: Announcing the CryptoGoggle 9000. Supported by dozens of popular websites, our technology causes websites to be displayed as a random mash of blended colors. By donning the CryptoGoggle 9000, this incomprehensible mishmash can be magically unscrambled before your very eyes! Take the CryptoGoggle 9000 everywhere you go! Weight 26.4 pounds, shipped weight 34.1 pounds. And as a bonus, you get to look like a special forces secret operative while using it! Only $1,999.99, while supplies last! Order yours today!

Re:Public computers

[ConceptJunkie]

When I'm in the bathroom, I'd really appreciate some privacy, but it's not like nobody knows what I'm doing in there!

Posting to /., of course.

Stupidest security policy on the road

[Roadkills-R-Us]

A friend of a friend was recently in Asia (don't recall whether this incident occurred in Cambodia or Thailand). He went to an internet cafe, where he had to pay in advance for the amount of time he wanted. But regardless of how much time he bought (1/2 hour in his case) the email client was set up to require you to log back in every 5 monutes. So he started hitting "save" at the end of every line.

Re:classic diligence, albeit in a modern world

[Anonymous Coward]

I was playing Nethack and even got a double take and knowing smile from a fellow techy who was walking down the aisle.

That smile had nothing to do with Nethack, it was probably another Mac user, he natually thought you were gay as well.

Re:classic diligence, albeit in a modern world

[networkBoy]

I had someone ask "what's that" to which I replied "nethack". They instant assumed I was some evil hacker and informed the gate personel. Sucky day for me.

I had to explain that it was a game "see it's in my games folder" and that it was also available as a GUI "see here it is with pictures". Wasen't till I showed them my badge and business cards from the multinational that I work for that they started beliving me.

After that I only played in GUI mode while in public. (ASCII at work though, 'cause anyone who know's I'm not working also won't rat me out :-)
-nB

Re:Now all you need..

[meringuoid]

a video camera built into your glasses, with a wire that goes down into your pocket to the battery and 30GB hard drive. Hey presto, inside information that can be reviewed at a later date.

That, and a bowel disruptor, several drug habits, and two filthy assistants.