This brings up an interesting question. How do you secure the data on your removable hard drive, while at the same time making it portable and identifiable?

I monitor “honeystickproject” in Google Alerts and saw this one pop up.

My vote is with db_nz, above, and I would have left it. But it wouldn’t bother me if any of you with the technology and guts – won’t say anything about the intelligence – were to pick the thing up. Let the bomb squad – or more appropriately, the guys in the beekeeper suits – pick it up and do what they need to. I’ll wait to see what their verdict is.

Yes, the chances of any of the drives having malware are certainly low, given the situation, and it hardly looks like a targeted attack. But who knows what they might have been infected with, besides saliva.

Best story I’ve heard in a long time, though. Just the image in my mind as he went from hard drive to parking meter brought tears to my eyes.

Will tweet about it, might do a blog article, too.

Thanks,

Scott Wright
http://www.honeystickproject.com

I’m with Garry though, I wouldn’t have done anything. In fact, I probably never would have looked in the bag.

if dangerous/bad – contact the authorities,
if sensitive and/or identifiable – contact the company,
if sensitive and non-identifiable – contact datalossdb.

…and I would also start carrying more alcohol wipes and start wiping anything before I touch it in the neighborhood… door knobs, parking meters, walk buttons… no telling what else that guy has been licking.

The same thing I’d have done if the bag contained a soccer ball or an oscilloscope or potted geraniums.

Nada. Zilch. Nothing.

That’s how I normally respond to someone’s random junk sitting unattended in some random public place.

I couldn’t make up a dilemma better suited to security professional’s attention. I probably would have been more suspicious if it had been three USB sticks, since they’re so much cheaper to leave lying around. But three external hard drives still cost too much to leave sitting around on the off hand chance of someone with the technical skills will wander by and pick them up. I would have spun them up on an Ubuntu system I’m in the process of rebuilding, just in case.

There was no one willing to take them in the nearby business and I had no idea where the nearest police presence was, so leaving the drives where they were was probably my best choice. If they’re still there next time I go back, I’ll pick them up. Most likely the garbage crew tossed ‘em already.