Laptops found to be vulnerable to data breach
News Article - Wednesday, March 5, 2008 10:55
Filed under: IT Security & Business Continuity
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New research has revealed that encrypted data contained on laptops may be easier to retrieve than many first believed.
According to the BBC, researchers in the US have found that it is possible to recover data held in "volatile memory" for several minutes after a lap top is switched off.
It was previously thought that this data was only available for a matter of seconds
Professor Edward Felton of the University of Princeton told the news provider that it was "widely believed" that switching off a laptop would ensure that the volatile memory would "disappear".
However, this is not the case, he claimed.
"What we have found was that the encryption keys needed to access these encrypted files were available in the memory of laptops," Professor Felton explained.
He added: "The information was available for seconds or minutes."
According to the expert, people will be able to access data stored on a laptop after cutting the power and then re-attaching the power.
The findings follow a number of incidents where laptops containing encrypted information have been stolen or lost.
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