corporate IT policy and carry-on laptop ban: laptops with easily removable drives?
Jul 10, 2017, 3:36 pm
#47
Join Date: Dec 2016
Programs: AA EXP
Posts: 148
My company's solution to this problem - all of our International Offices are getting a bunch of guest laptops. When we have visitors from countries where laptops are not allowed to be taken on the plane we give them a loaner for the duration of their visit.
Jul 11, 2017, 2:56 am
#48
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: in the vicinity of SFO
Programs: AA 2MM (LT-PLT, PPro for this year)
Posts: 19,781
There are various more difficult to detect and or more deniable forms of hidden volumes, some of which are bootable.
Jul 11, 2017, 7:12 pm
#49
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Boulder
Programs: AA Plat, CX Silver
Posts: 2,361
While it won't help against a really serious attacker (it's trivially detectable by someone technically competent), a typical random fishing expedition can be defeated by having a dual-boot system where the main one is unencrypted with a basic Windows password and which contains nothing interesting, while the "real" system is set up with strong pre-boot encryption and isn't obviously even "there" to a non-technical person.
There are various more difficult to detect and or more deniable forms of hidden volumes, some of which are bootable.
There are various more difficult to detect and or more deniable forms of hidden volumes, some of which are bootable.
Far better to give them a blank laptop to carry over the border and re-download what they need on the other side over VPN. Or even better, let them pick up a loaner overseas.
Jul 12, 2017, 10:03 pm
#50
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: in the vicinity of SFO
Programs: AA 2MM (LT-PLT, PPro for this year)
Posts: 19,781
This is a terrible idea. This tactic effectively encourages employees to lie to immigration agents.
Far better to give them a blank laptop to carry over the border and re-download what they need on the other side over VPN. Or even better, let them pick up a loaner overseas.
Far better to give them a blank laptop to carry over the border and re-download what they need on the other side over VPN. Or even better, let them pick up a loaner overseas.
As for "lying," I have once had my laptop searched by US customs as a returning US citizen, I was asked to boot it, log into my user account, and they looked through it close enough to being front of me that I could see a lot of what they were doing. It was not subtle. At no point was I asked anything beyond whether I'd had a laptop with me, and then given instructions. There are plenty of professional reasons to have VMs or a dual-boot laptop, and a second login for either of those, and they definitely did not ask for any such thing (indeed, they didn't even ask for my password -- just to have me unlock the machine and hand it to them.)
Oct 21, 2017, 12:25 am
#51
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: WLG
Programs: Air New Zealand
Posts: 6
TV News here tonight cited that the FAA wants to ban the use of laptops on International flights due to the potential that the batteries may explode / generate enough heat to cause other things (rubbing alcohol, dry shampoo, etc) to explode.
I went searching to see if the subject had come up on here before and found this thread.
Seems like the use of cloud services + disposable hardware is the only way to go, esp if your corporate policy is that company information & devices must always be under positive control. :|
I went searching to see if the subject had come up on here before and found this thread.
Seems like the use of cloud services + disposable hardware is the only way to go, esp if your corporate policy is that company information & devices must always be under positive control. :|
Oct 21, 2017, 3:33 am
#52
Join Date: Nov 2015
Location: BNE
Programs: NZ*G, QF Bronze, VA Red
Posts: 563
TV News here tonight cited that the FAA wants to ban the use of laptops on International flights due to the potential that the batteries may explode / generate enough heat to cause other things (rubbing alcohol, dry shampoo, etc) to explode.
I went searching to see if the subject had come up on here before and found this thread.
Seems like the use of cloud services + disposable hardware is the only way to go, esp if your corporate policy is that company information & devices must always be under positive control. :|
I went searching to see if the subject had come up on here before and found this thread.
Seems like the use of cloud services + disposable hardware is the only way to go, esp if your corporate policy is that company information & devices must always be under positive control. :|
At no point has there been discussion of banning use of laptops on flights (barring, obviously, taxi, take off and landing) outside of the silly large electronics ban the US government put in place and then quietly rescinded.
In fact if the FAA gets their way on the checked battery ban, it's going to be very interesting if the US government introduced another large electronics carry on ban, as it would be impossible to comply with both regulations at once.
Oct 21, 2017, 4:08 am
#53
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: WLG
Programs: Air New Zealand
Posts: 6
That sounds like poorly researched journalism. The FAA is pushing the ICAO to implement a ban on checked lithium ion batteries (namely those in large electronic devices such as laptops) on the basis that it's safer than in the hold and almost everyone actually carries their laptops on anyway, so it won't really affect that many people.
At no point has there been discussion of banning use of laptops on flights (barring, obviously, taxi, take off and landing) outside of the silly large electronics ban the US government put in place and then quietly rescinded.
In fact if the FAA gets their way on the checked battery ban, it's going to be very interesting if the US government introduced another large electronics carry on ban, as it would be impossible to comply with both regulations at once.
At no point has there been discussion of banning use of laptops on flights (barring, obviously, taxi, take off and landing) outside of the silly large electronics ban the US government put in place and then quietly rescinded.
In fact if the FAA gets their way on the checked battery ban, it's going to be very interesting if the US government introduced another large electronics carry on ban, as it would be impossible to comply with both regulations at once.
Oct 21, 2017, 4:09 am
#54
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: WLG
Programs: Air New Zealand
Posts: 6
Ooh I cracked the threshold. https://gizmodo.com/faa-proposes-wor...819706608?IR=T is what I meant.
Oct 21, 2017, 7:29 am
#55
Join Date: Nov 2015
Location: BNE
Programs: NZ*G, QF Bronze, VA Red
Posts: 563
Yeah, checked bags. No-one is proposing not allowing laptops, only that they should not be carried in the hold as batteries can do bad things like explode and burn hot and fast enough that the halon suppression system is unable to contain the fire.
