Photo By Tech. Sgt. Christina Styer | A recent Air Forces Central Command and 380th Air Expeditionary Wing policy prohibits...... read more read more
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UNDISCLOSED LOCATION - One of the most dangerous cyber threats could be sitting in your pocket, backpack, purse or briefcase right now.
While the cell phone has given us the ability to talk to anyone, almost anywhere, tablets have given us direct access to the internet while on the go, external hard drives allows us to save everything in one place and digital cameras have given us a way to capture every moment of our lives, they are also creating a new kind of threat many are completely unaware of.
These devices are known as portable electronic devices (PED).
“A PED is any electronic device that would have the ability to record audio, video, save notes or has a wireless communication-type ability,” explained Capt. Scott Croskey, 380th Expeditionary Communications Squadron plans and programs flight commander. “Anything that is used in wireless communication is a portable electronic device.”
For example, your IPod Nano may seem innocent, all you want to do is listen to music, and there is no little red record button. So why can’t you have this device in your work center?
Just because you cannot see it, does not mean it is not there. Your device does have the capability to record; that is how you get music on it. If you can save music files you can also save data files to that device because it has an internal hard drive. You may not have any intention of using your device for portable communication, but that does not mean someone else does not.
Someone could use your seemingly innocent device to steal sensitive or classified materials in a way that you cannot see, turning your mobile device into an insider threat.
“The PED policy protects the network from the insider threat, which could be anyone on the base,” said Croskey. “Wikileaks is a perfect example. If we allow everyone to bring their PEDs in to the office, who is to say that every person on this base has good intentions? You can’t say that for a fact.”
Croskey explained that the cyber realm is so difficult for people to understand because they can’t see it. People can see physical security measures and that lets them know there is a physical threat and measure to be followed, because cyber threats cannot be seen with the naked eye they are easily overlooked.
“Every electronic device emits signals, some are intentional, some are just because the device is generating electricity, when a classified system does this, those emanations are also classified,” said Anthony Gonzalez, 380 ECS information assurance contract lead. “Emission Security (EMSEC) is all about countermeasures, how to prevent classified emanations from getting to places they shouldn’t be, which could compromise classified information.”
Many electronic devices contain vulnerabilities that the users might not be aware of, but there are people out there who are looking to exploit it.
“What it boils down to are vulnerabilities; it’s poor security practice to bring these devices into your work center,” said Gonzalez. “You don’t realize what you are or are not doing or what the device is or is not capable of.”
The majority of American Airmen are of integrity and would never knowingly pass information to the enemy, but by bringing PEDs into work centers they could become the enemy’s greatest friend and asset.
“No one wants to be the guy that allowed our information to be infiltrated,” said Croskey. “In the cyber world, you don’t see that you passed information to the bad guy, that information could be used against American forces, and because you never know that you passed it and someone else used it, you’ll never correct that behavior.”
While the software and devices used to collect classified information may seem high-tech and complicated, they can be built using components from common electronic stores for less than $300. This is not a difficult task to accomplish for someone who knows what they are doing and has a desire to collect the information.
We know that the security forces member standing at the gate is ensuring bad people are not able to come on base. We, computer users, are the cyber security forces members ensuring the protection of information.
“What we need help with from the general populous is to not bring these wireless devices into these areas that can disseminate the information we need to safeguard,” said Croskey. “You can never be 100 percent secure, but you want to make yourself a harder target.”
| Date Taken: | 03.17.2013 |
| Date Posted: | 03.17.2013 08:32 |
| Story ID: | 103603 |
| Location: | (UNDISCLOSED LOCATION) |
| Web Views: | 449 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Electronic devices aid the enemy, by TSgt Christina Styer, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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