Blackjacking

Chapter 5. Protecting Your PC and LAN from BlackBerrys

Ensuring that mobile devices are synchronized with a PC has always been a necessity. Whether it's for synchronizing email, schedules, to‐do lists, or files, people have a need to connect their mobile devices to their computers.

But many don't realize that there is an inherent threat in connecting mobile devices to PCs. This is especially true when it comes to enterprise PCs that are connected to the corporate LAN. The security concerns around having a BlackBerry device connected directly to a PC include

• Controlling the data that can be transferred to the BlackBerry

• Controlling the data that can be transferred to the PC and LAN from the BlackBerry, and ensuring that the data doesn't contain malware

• Protecting a PC when using the BlackBerry for Internet connectivity

It's interesting. Enterprises spend millions of dollars protecting their LANs. One of the main reasons they do this is to prevent unauthorized people outside the network from obtaining the sensitive data that they are protecting on the inside. This is one major reason why enterprises install firewalls, intrusion prevention systems (IPS), intrusion detection systems (IDS), and so forth. It makes sense: put as large a barrier as possible between your sensitive data and the people on the Internet who would try to access it.

Then along comes a BlackBerry, some other mobile device, or a USB drive. In no time at all, a single user can circumvent millions of dollars in security ...