Security Alert!

Question: Can one great idea totally cancel out the other? I am willing to bet this proves to be the case more often than not. Here, check this out….

So we have the “Stealth Surfer“, perhaps the coolest thing in online privacy since the discovery of the bootable CD and your local library. What makes this so interesting to me is that it literally removes the potential for your personal info being left on a hard drive. Seriously, from what I have been told, there is zero data interaction with the hard drive the PC whatsoever (except basic OS functions of course). All data from your browsing and email usage are kept on this handy little USB device. Even cooler is the fact that this bad boy allows you to password protect the access to the device as well.

Here is what Stealth Surfer offers the user:

Firefox- OK, this seems silly. However they are offering the version of Firefox that is completely self-contained within the mini-drive itself. That way nothing whatsoever is left on the PC.

Anonymizer- If you are working from a public place happen to be dealing with top secret data, then it might be prudent to make sure your surfing habits are left in the realm of the unknown. When used properly, this program alone can help protect you from online identity theft, phishing attacks, and online tracking.

RoboForm- This is a cool enough app I suppose, but really does not belong with this bundle. Basically, it fills in online forms for you. Ummm….

Thunderbird- A great POP email client for those looking to run far away from the horrid Outlook Express. Unfortunately this has no place here outside of curbing the flow of spam and the like.

Hushmail- The email option that does make sense with this bundle: With Hushmail, you can encrypt your correspondence end to end. Hushmail is very secure, a great option for those looking to protect their email from prying eyes.

Now, all in all this sounds like a great deal. But let me put it this way….

What if I took PuppyLinux and installed it on a thumb drive? It would give us access to everything above except perhaps RoboForm. And granted, Anonymizer would be accessible only from the free version embedded on their Website and you would also be limited to your PuppyLinux password.

So which is truly the best answer? Well, that depends on what you are looking for I suppose. For $99 you can get 256MB of storage on the Stealth Surfer drive. Then again, I could just buy a $50 thumb drive and install PuppyLinux for free and trust Linux password security?

Oh, for those admins out there freaking out right now, you can shut down this whole nonsense quicker than a wink with a little app known as “USB Drive Disabler“. That way you are safe. Oh wait, that’s right! This only works in Windows. Guess you will have to resort to USB disabling within the BIOS and disabling bootable CD-ROMs as well.

I believe it’s fair to say that Linux is both powerful and dangerous. So be aware of what it can do to your business, even in the Windows world…

[tags]firefox,thunderbird,roboform,anonymizer,stealth surfer,hushmail,puppylinux[/tags]