USB drive goes missing with Japan-US troop deployment maps
[Via The Register, image courtesy of University of Texas]
Filed under: Storage
[Via The Register, image courtesy of University of Texas]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
jbcaro @ Jul 2nd 2008 9:07PM
Hey, what's this on my desk......uh oh
Wormbolt @ Jul 2nd 2008 9:53PM
Is it a Hello Kitty flash drive marked TOP SECRET?
Chuckles McGee @ Jul 2nd 2008 10:33PM
D'oh! I knew I shouldn't have reformatted that...
KAIKAI @ Jul 2nd 2008 9:09PM
well maybe it was one of them easy to lose flashdrives
Thi mam(kris120890) @ Jul 2nd 2008 9:10PM
OH god were all going to die. OOOOOOH the humanity. OH Wait.
Anton @ Jul 2nd 2008 9:12PM
You Fail, Oh Wait.
Jeff @ Jul 2nd 2008 9:18PM
Jap-anUs troop deployments?
Big Al @ Jul 2nd 2008 10:38PM
Both countries should receive some therapy from Dr. Tobias Fünke, analrapist (pronounced ɘˡnælrɘˌpɪst)
aaron @ Jul 2nd 2008 11:24PM
COME ON!!!
Funke, Tobias Dr. @ Jul 3rd 2008 1:47AM
Okay, who'd like a banger in the mouth?
teej @ Jul 3rd 2008 2:36PM
i upped you for the SNL reference that no one else seems to get...
Dolemite @ Jul 2nd 2008 9:20PM
I am sure the USB drive has already found a safe place where the vast majority of stolen US and Western tech ends up...
Copy Strong!
thedesolate1 @ Jul 2nd 2008 9:30PM
I have it! It was made with advance wars DS by the way. Does any evil genius want to buy it from me?
Marques @ Jul 2nd 2008 9:41PM
If guys appear at your front door in big SUVs, don't answer it!
initialxy @ Jul 2nd 2008 10:29PM
quick, sell it for some big cash before big brothers hunt you down.
frogger @ Jul 2nd 2008 9:30PM
can you say ironkey?
Zoli @ Jul 2nd 2008 9:31PM
You really think they would have no encryption on a document like that?
RogueStorm @ Jul 2nd 2008 9:44PM
Believe it or not, yes, it is highly likely that it would be unencrypted.
d @ Jul 2nd 2008 9:45PM
After a year of work, I just cracked the encryption on a file on a random jump drive I found. It seems to be some sort of map. I'm glad I know how to HACK things like this!
Josh @ Jul 2nd 2008 9:47PM
yes.
CBrowne @ Jul 3rd 2008 5:50AM
Ok, first off - depending on the sensitivity of the data, it most likely WAS encrypted and if it WASN'T then there's nothing to worry about because the data isn't sensitive.
Secondly, cracking a 128-bit encryption algorithm (which is the smallest bit size in use today), depending on the strength of the algorithm of course, varies from being accomplishable by only a handful of the very best minds in the world to damn near impossible. Anything higher than 128-bit (which of course is likely with sensitive information like this) and you have no hope whatsoever.
Luckily for you laymen, your banks use 256-bit (at least) encryption on their secure connections. In other words, if you think you could crack a 256-bit Public Key encryption algorithm then you'd already have done so and earned yourself millions through credit card fraud.
A year of work... please! In computer security, things are either now or never, you would not spend a year trying to break into something worth, I don't know, a few thousand on the black market to some over-keen amateur strategist; where you could earn millions breaking into a bank's unsecured wireless network with the root password on their server set to "s3cur3p4ssw0rd".
My point is that, as in physical burglary, computer crackers will always go for EASY targets that earn them the most per hour's work.
Oh, and to address the real concern - if another country got hold of this information, EVEN if they could break the encryption, it would be of little use to them. The US Army have probably already adjusted their deployment strategy in the situations that are outlined on the maps. Well, one'd hope they have anyway.
neofolklore @ Jul 3rd 2008 8:06AM
I cracked my neighbor's 128-bit WEP last night.
Matt @ Jul 3rd 2008 8:57AM
I crack 1024bit encryption in my sleep!
Benson @ Jul 3rd 2008 8:35AM
@CBrowne:
Well, the best minds or the best computers. (Honestly, some combination is in order.) Do you think whatever intelligence agencies would be interested in this publish it every time they break some cryptography? They do have some of the best minds (who have been at work on all crypto systems they know of for years), and some serious computing power to take it from there.
And they _are_ interested; not because they're naive enough to think nothing changed, but because the more you know of how your enemy plans, the better you can deal with his new plans. Just knowing in more detail what scenarios are being planned for training is highly valuable, even without the specific troop deployments for those situations.
ShadowKain @ Jul 3rd 2008 9:06AM
@CBROWNE
"Luckily for you laymen" ... Thanks but I am well aware of 256 bit AES I thank you. Please choose not to bash the entire board next time. That said, good point. If it was sensitive info, it was locked up, UNLESS it was stolen off a secure computer onto an UNSECURE drive. That is a possible scenario as well.
Weeliano @ Jul 2nd 2008 9:35PM
That map looks like the deployment of Japanese Imperial Army forces of WWII. Well if THAT's on the USB drive, it definitely cause discomfort among nations formerly occupied by the Japanese during WWII.
lintsniffer @ Jul 2nd 2008 10:21PM
You must be an expert on Military History.
Good thing you noticed the November 1941 label in the key.
MeatPop @ Jul 2nd 2008 10:32PM
Hence why Vietnam is labeled "French indochina"
barrywoods @ Jul 2nd 2008 10:43PM
You mean like the US?
I LOVE THE CAPS LOCK KEY @ Jul 3rd 2008 1:41AM
WWII did not start until December of 1941.
Steven @ Jul 3rd 2008 3:25AM
"WWII did not start until December of 1941"
No, it didn't. At least not for shallow USAmericans who think the world ends at the Mexican or Canadian border.
Rogan josh @ Jul 3rd 2008 3:57AM
Damn Americans! You only came into the war after Japan bombed your precious ships! The REST OF THE WORLD had actually been at war for two years before you bothered to step in...and then only after your huge armament, ship, aircraft and weapons companies pushed the government enough when they realised how many billions of dollars they could make!!
teej @ Jul 3rd 2008 4:54PM
@Steven,
the war actually starts when i install BF1942 and ends when i install COD4.
Mr Farts @ Jul 2nd 2008 9:39PM
I already have it with BitTorrent.
Zane @ Jul 2nd 2008 10:01PM
LOL.. yep, I'm seeding it right now..
neofolklore @ Jul 3rd 2008 8:07AM
I think I see Pirate Bay on that map
ojx @ Jul 2nd 2008 9:54PM
gtfo my indonesia!
go seki @ Jul 2nd 2008 10:01PM
All UR Base R Belong ...
iceykitsune @ Jul 3rd 2008 10:31AM
...to us
Mr.Ironic @ Jul 3rd 2008 1:56AM
In this case that actually makes pretty good sense :)
Slawek @ Jul 2nd 2008 10:01PM
It was Jack Bauer.
IndiaTech @ Jul 4th 2008 1:52AM
I bet it was Chuck Norris...
Jonathan-DBOSS @ Jul 2nd 2008 10:21PM
Its stuck on some USB port...
I make me lol sometimes.
derX @ Jul 2nd 2008 10:27PM
Ohh, that's clever.
*ranks up*
TheGasMan @ Jul 2nd 2008 10:31PM
You're the only one.
derX @ Jul 2nd 2008 11:12PM
That "Highly Ranked" says otherwise.
Mr.Ironic @ Jul 3rd 2008 2:02AM
Make sure when you dock in that port you don't get a virus.
teej @ Jul 3rd 2008 4:56PM
i don't see what you did there :-\
Crooked Style @ Jul 2nd 2008 10:51PM
Does the USSR still exists?
Mountain @ Jul 2nd 2008 11:40PM
It's like Burn After Reading!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CE3TlKzItL8