A new report tells us that the FBI has lost 160 laptops in the last 44 months! “Perhaps most troubling,” says the report, “the FBI could not determine in many cases whether the lost or stolen laptop computers contained sensitive or classified information. Such information may include case information, personal identifying information, or classified information on FBI operations.” Laptops can also contain goodies like the software that the FBI uses to make its identification badges, a copy of which was installed on a laptop stolen from the Boston Field Office in July 2002.“ If the FBI doesn’t keep records of what’s installed on their laptops, how can we expect or trust the private sector to secure customer data? Think about all the websites that have your name/address/etc, and then think of their employees taking their laptops home that may/may not have hooks in to ‘secret’ data…
[...] FBI lost 160 laptops in last 44 monthsA new report tells us that the FBI has lost 160 laptops in the last 44 months! Perhaps most troubling, says the report, the FBI could not determine in many cases whether the lost or stolen laptop computers contained sensitive or … [...]
160 laptops in 44 months is too much. The number should be tops 40 laptops or less in a 44 month period. It would be great if the number was zero. This problem may not be the FBIs fault.
@James Klich II
Absolutely – this is a huge problem for the private sector too, but they don’t have to publicize those stats. I see more and more need for ‘dumb’ laptops that only have the OS on it, and need to get documents via a secure method (openssh) from a main, secure server.