funsec mailing list archives

Re: [privacy] 93,754,333 Examples of Data Nonchalance


From: Blanchard_Michael () emc com
Date: Mon, 25 Sep 2006 14:53:34 -0400


: >
: > And given that most of the breaches have been in the US, it's safe
to guess
: > that most of the 93M have been US resident's records.  With the
population
: > sitting at just under 300M, that means a 1 in 3 chance your stuff
has
: > been swiped.
: 
: err not really. Their math is FUD tainted. You have to at least
subtract 
: the 26 million they included with the VA laptop that was recovered.

So because the data was out of their control for over a month, but they 
happened to get the laptop back.. the data is just magically 'safe' and 
wasn't compromised? How do they know?


---->  Nah, they have to change the terminology they're using.  93M US
residents records have been exposed publicly, not necessarily "swiped"
(what exactly DOES that mean anyway?) or used maliciously.
    It's the difference between knowing how to make a bomb, knowing how
to make the ingredients to make said bomb, actually making the bomb,
then actually using said bomb.

     If someone knew what they had, and wanted the reward for return,
and still wanted the DATA (even if it's just for the sake of having it,
but never intending upon using it), they could simply DD the drive and
use the duped drive to access the data.... No-one would ever know the
data was accessed, ever....  Well, unless he was stupid and used the
data in some way that would identify the source....

   Mike B
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