Abe Usher, who has 10 years’ experience in computer security, writes an application that allows the iPod to scan and store important business information at a speed of 100MB every two minutes. This program is called "pod slurping".
At first glance, the person who executes this program is like an ordinary employee listening to his iPod. In addition, there is no need to use a keyboard when stealing information, just plug it into the USB slot of any boot computer and it can be executed.
Usher denies that his creation is irresponsible behavior that helps malicious employees and information thieves, but insists that his deterrent strategy is to awaken enterprises to take action to prevent such thieves.
He said: "This is an area with increasing threats, but it has not received much attention. But in just two minutes, you can get 100MB of Word, Excel and PDF files-basically anything that may contain business information-and with a 60GB iPod, you may be able to take away all the business files of a medium-sized company. "
Andy Burton, CEO of Centennial Software, an equipment management company, said that Usher’s actions were criticized, but he believed that he was well-intentioned. He also agrees that companies that have not yet recognized this threat need a wake-up call.
Burton said: "No one wakes up in the morning worrying about anti-virus software or firewalls, because we all know that we need these things, and they have all been set up. Most of the biggest threats now come from within the organization, but I’m not sure whether many companies understand that it is possible to plug in an iPod and take away all the information in a few minutes. "
Usher said that enterprises should not expect any help from the operating system, and the most popular Windows system cannot effectively control such threats without sacrificing other functions.
He said: "(Microsoft Windows)Vista seems to incorporate some functions to strengthen the management of USB devices, but from the time of testing to the official launch, we may not see this function built into Microsoft’s operating system until two years later. Therefore, enterprises must ask themselves: Can we really wait for two years? "
Taking the average loss of information theft calculated by the FBI as a warning, Usher believes that the business community can’t wait any longer. He said: "The cost of active prevention is lower than the cost of passive response to accidents."