USB full distro install - Pro's and Con's discussion

[kc1di]

That exception is over, see f.ex. this ZDnet news.

Good to know Thanks!

[phonic-otg]

That exception is over, see f.ex. this ZDnet news.

Not that I'd ever do that. Is there a way to see the drive in a VM?

[jglen490]

jlittle, that was a specific reference to a specific corporate policy implemented in network and PC policy. One that I assure you still applies - where I work.

In fact, where I work, I have ZERO admin rights on the laptop given to me for use. My personal PC, yes, It's mine to screw up as I see fit

[Snowhog]

Long story short. When I was working (Army National Guard), the Recruiters purchased USB Thumb Drives with National Guard branding as promotional giveaways. Of course, they gave some to employees (I wasn't one). One was plugged in to the employees work PC and a virus on it infected the entire network. The thumb drives were made in; wait for it; China no less. A hardwired virus was on the controller of the drives. It was that event that resulted in the policy of not being allowed to connect devices NOT SPECIFICALLY APPROVED by our Directory of Information Management to USB ports, and that included (at that time) external Floppy or CD/DVD drives.

[jglen490]

That is DoD policy now. and probably most other Federal agencies.

[jlittle]

In fact, where I work, I have ZERO admin rights on the laptop given to me for use.

That can suck badly. It's particularly frustrating when the administrators understand less about computing and security than you do, and you can't do your job properly.

I was on a team once where some team members considered themselves forced to socially engineer an in person visit by an administrator to allow them to shoulder surf to get the administrator's password.

Installing Kubuntu becomes difficult. Just getting past Bitlocker is a mission.

Note that a USB keyboard attack can still "exfiltrate" sensitive data the user has access to, and can map the user's view of the network.

[jglen490]

Yep, it's a tough position. But, if something goes wrong, it's going to the admin's fault, or service desk guy's fault - not mine

[phonic-otg]

Just to tie up loose ends, the micro-SD card with full distro kept crashing, so decided not to continue.