Pods Pose Possible Problems

Got employees? Then you've got iPods -- and you may have some security problems you haven't considered.The next big battleground for small business security may well be with the number of data-theft capable consumer products your employees bring to work.

Last week it was the thumb drive threat that was on my mind -- now I'm thinking pod people.

Not the ones Kevin McCarthy warned us about in the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers -- today's threat is iPod people, and the potential their players present for grabbing data off your computers and network.

It's called pod slurping, it's been around for awhile, but hasn't gotten the attention it may deserve.

Take a look at this brief white paper on pod slurping for more information.

The point isn't so much the iPods -- or the thumb drives, smart phones, whatever -- it's that your employees and customers and vendors and visitors are increasingly equipped with increasingly sophisticated tools. Tools that can be used for good or bad purposes.

How do you know which? You don't -- which is why constant vigilance and constantly updated, aggressively enforced security and device rules are so vital for your business.

In other words, in the words, in fact, of Kevin McCarthy at the end of the original and still best Body Snatchers:

"Look, you fools. You're in danger. Can't you see? They're after you. They're after all of us. Our wives, our children, everyone. They're here already. YOU'RE NEXT!"