# "The Biggest Threat to National Security Is..."



## Marauder06 (Jul 26, 2013)

The thumb drive.

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-biggest-threat-to-national-security-is-the-thumb-drive-2013-7



> How did we destroy Iranian nuclear facilities? With a thumb drive. And how did Snowden allegedly smuggle out the blueprints to the NSA? With a thumb drive.
> 
> 
> No, it wasn't by some ultra secretive means of super-complex cyber code writing and cloud encryption by which good ol' Eddy breached America's security in arguably the most secure compound on the planet — nope — *he simply walked in with a thumb drive, downloaded the NSA, and walked out.*


----------



## Diamondback 2/2 (Jul 26, 2013)

I don't know if its the biggest threat, but it damn sure is a big threat.  Kind of funny my wife was asking how the "leakers" are able to pull data and post/leak it to the internet. My response was young immature people with access and external hard drives (like thumb drives).

Being a dumb grunt, I always followed the rules when using our units PCs, but I know a lot of soldiers that didn't and had much more access than I did.


----------



## SpongeBob*24 (Jul 26, 2013)

Come on....I know everyone saw "The Recruit"...they teach you that stuff in spy school.....:wall:


----------



## Confederate Son (Jul 26, 2013)

You'd be surprised how much trouble they cause as a hot commodity on the black market..


----------



## Marauder06 (Jul 27, 2013)

Confederate Son said:


> You'd be surprised how much trouble they cause as a hot commodity on the black market..




Why would you presume that any of us would be surprised by something like that?


----------



## 0699 (Jul 27, 2013)

So what do we use for data transfer if not the thumb drive?  Soon before I retired, the Corps required USB ports to be blocked.  Major PITA.  At what point do we say, "We don't trust our people, so let's just prevent them from doing somthing".  I dont believe stopping people from performing a physical action (using a thumb drive) will prevent them from having the will to do something (espionage).  There's always printing, CDs, etc.


----------



## Confederate Son (Jul 27, 2013)

Marauder06 said:


> Why would you presume that any of us would be surprised by something like that?


Because  most people have no idea.. but SS's loyal members are not most people so please forgive the presumption..


----------



## Brill (Jul 27, 2013)

I really do get tired of the current American trend to dismiss personal responsibility and dehumanize actions.  I may be having an Amanda Baynes moment BUT I'm pretty confident that some PERSON wrote the Stuxnet code...another PERSON handled the foreign agent to implant the virus into the Iranian systems...Snowden, a PERSON, allegedly used a TD to do what he did.

To answer the initial question: Fucktards, being unreasonable PERSONs, are our biggest threat.

Where is the deterrence?  Why not have each IC employee (civ and mil) sign a document simply stating "If you remove materials from this facility and those said materials are later deemed to have cause seriously grave damage to the security the United States by your removal and subsequent compromise, you will be shot in the face immediately upon conviction by a jury of your peers.  Have a nice day and thank you for your selfless service to this great nation."


----------



## AWP (Jul 27, 2013)

Awesome post, lindy.

The only way to secure your data is to go back to the days of dumb terminals. With patience, time, and one other "tool" you can take all the data you want off of gov't machines. Always have, always will unless we go back to dumb terminals.

I like lindy's solution better by a mile.


----------



## x SF med (Jul 27, 2013)

there's a store here that recently had 16Gb micro thumb drives (really just 1"x1/2"x1/4") on sale for $11...   cheap and easily concealable.


----------



## Confederate Son (Jul 27, 2013)

x SF med said:


> on sale for $11...   cheap and easily concealable.


Thats where the scam comes in.. the thieves will buy a large order from a promo company..pay $6.00 using a stolen credit card then turn around and sell them for $14.00.. and clear a straight profit..


----------



## Florida173 (Jul 27, 2013)

Well... I'm pretty sure that we've all heard of the issues with thumb drives since Buckshot Yankee...


----------



## RackMaster (Jul 27, 2013)

The good thing about Group Policy is disabling ports and devices; shut the fuckers off.


----------



## JBS (Jul 28, 2013)

They're a threat outside of dotgov circles just as much if not moreso.  Think vital infrastructure.   Government and military are not the only categories of assets vital to national security.


----------



## Ranger Psych (Jul 29, 2013)

RackMaster said:


> The good thing about Group Policy is disabling ports and devices; shut the fuckers off.



The good thing about a set of wire snips.... disabling ports and devices in a positive manner.


----------



## x SF med (Jul 29, 2013)

Honor .... and Integrity...  and personal responsibility...  those would help.  But I like Lindy's method, if you steal the info, get shot in the face - I would not go so far as a jury trial though, if you are caught with the data leaving a secure area or terminal, you are going to suffer from terminal lead poisoning...


----------

