inside.
unomaha.edu
data hiding.
Computing devices influence our lives as never before. Everyday we increase our use of notebooks, cell phones, PDAs, MP3 players and more, and with these we access a world of information that includes online stores, music distributors and internet newspapers. The newspapers may ask for some personal information to access their articles. Music distributors and online stores definitely want our information if we intend on making a purchase. We also make use of instant messengers, chat rooms, email, and other pieces of software that require usernames and passwords. And, if this weren't enough, we use word processors to write our essays and reports, spreadsheets to figure out our taxes, imaging software to edit our photographs and VOIP to talk with friends across the country.
Few people, however, give thought to where the data goes. Or how it is stored. Or what happens to their data when they delete it. People often are surprised to find out the files they deleted when they emptied their computer's "trashcan" weren't really deleted at all, but instead had only their identifiers removed. With the right kind of program a deleted file is easily recovered. This includes any file that might contain financial information or passwords.
Then there is the data we supply freely over a network, whether account numbers, private photographs or text messages. While someone may be listening on the network for certain kinds of activity, with so much traffic flooding the Internet it is unlikely anyone will grab our particular piece of information at any time. The more likely threat to our data is spyware. Many, many people are unaware of the dangers of clicking on pop-ups, downloading utilities and opening emails from people they don't know. These are a few of the ways makers of spyware get their software on our systems. Once there, spyware watches our web browsing, sometimes logging our keystrokes, then reports back to the server from which it originates.
There are means of hiding our data. We can regularly use virus scanners and spyware removers to check for known problems, but unknown problems remain a constant threat. Against these we can employ any number of encryption software which will prevent easy viewing of our data. A link we provide below to software called Password Safe acts as a safe for the many passwords we may use across dozens of systems. Putty is a means of connecting to certain systems while making sure our data across the network is encrypted. Cryptchat does the same for our instant messaging. If you don't trust your email client, you can use CertifiedMail to send your message across. Data Shredder Gold adds and changes bits to our trashed data, making sure that once we delete a file the file stays deleted, or at least unrecoverable. If you prefer someone not looking over your shoulder while you work with sensitive data, you might look into 3M's new privacy filters.
Websites
The University of Nebraska at Omaha does not support any of the software or hardware we link to below. Be sure to read the accompanying documentation on how to use the software before using it.
Hardware
Pointsec Mobile Device Security Disk Encryption
Software
Pointsec Mobile Device Security Disk Encryption
CertifiedMail - Secure Email Software