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Important detail: > Luckily for the man, city officials said the data contained on the drive is encrypted and locked with a password. Assuming it’s encrypted

Important detail: > Luckily for the man, city officials said the data contained on the drive is encrypted and locked with a password. Assuming it’s encrypted properly, I reckon the data is safer on a lost USB stick than on any internet-connected computer. Better if it was a not-lost USB stick, of course, but it happens.

hatmatrix 4y ago
I would find the use of the word "luckily" to be offensive here, as it's more to do with strategy when handling sensitive data outside of the office.
- yieldcrv 4y ago
  Lucky that someone was able to be in a decision making position to implement the strategy
  - effingwewt 4y ago
    This made me laugh so hard thank you. I always think of Japanese culture as being patient enough to do things right. From the care taken by the conductors pointing at signs to make sure they pay attention to them, to the way everything has its place, and no corners are cut. Makes it seem surprising when something does happen, and even then, it's not nearly bad as it could have been thanks to the encryption. Of course, I'm just an outsider but I've always marveled at their culture. Here in the US people would have been lambasted, sued, fingers pointed, firings, PR pieces, a PR firm would be hired to make a statement, etc. Edit added line 'to the way everything has its place, and no corners are cut.'
fomine3 4y ago
Our expectation for random IT people is very low. Password could be [townname]2022 and encryption could be very weak ZipCrypto.
- Wowfunhappy 4y ago
  The alternative is a password and encryption which could be just as bad but is also connected to the public internet. On a usb drive, the range of possible attackers is comparatively miniscule.
- batshibstein 4y ago
  but even that reduces the attack surface from "literally anyone could stick this in their PC and read the data" to "basic amount of technical literacy and curiosity required"

hatmatrix 4y ago

I would find the use of the word "luckily" to be offensive here, as it's more to do with strategy when handling sensitive data outside of the office.

yieldcrv 4y ago
Lucky that someone was able to be in a decision making position to implement the strategy
- effingwewt 4y ago
  This made me laugh so hard thank you. I always think of Japanese culture as being patient enough to do things right. From the care taken by the conductors pointing at signs to make sure they pay attention to them, to the way everything has its place, and no corners are cut. Makes it seem surprising when something does happen, and even then, it's not nearly bad as it could have been thanks to the encryption. Of course, I'm just an outsider but I've always marveled at their culture. Here in the US people would have been lambasted, sued, fingers pointed, firings, PR pieces, a PR firm would be hired to make a statement, etc. Edit added line 'to the way everything has its place, and no corners are cut.'

fomine3 4y ago

Our expectation for random IT people is very low. Password could be [townname]2022 and encryption could be very weak ZipCrypto.

Wowfunhappy 4y ago
The alternative is a password and encryption which could be just as bad but is also connected to the public internet. On a usb drive, the range of possible attackers is comparatively miniscule.
batshibstein 4y ago
but even that reduces the attack surface from "literally anyone could stick this in their PC and read the data" to "basic amount of technical literacy and curiosity required"