I received this email earlier today and thought the list might enjoy the references. Taken together, they make a good warning. I'd appreciate it if folks could provide other suggestions for keeping data safe. D. writes:

This has you written all over it.

http://www.macworld.com/article/2035461/review-aegis-bio-3-0-hard-drive-idea...

...

The pocket-sized hard drive comes with a built-in fingerprint scanner than helps alleviates any worries of unapproved access to the drive. Fingerprint access might sound like a bit of a novelty, but from a security standpoint it actually makes sense; passwords can be crackedbfingerprints, not so much.

Thank Pete fingerprints are so hard to acquire that not even law enforcement can pull them from crime scenes, make copies, and scan them into some kind of giant national database: http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/fingerprints_biometrics/iafis/iafis Thank Pete it's so difficult to copy a fingerprint that three amateurs can't do it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MythBusters_%282006_season%29#Fingerprint_Lock Thank Pete most materials, especially glass, plastic, or any smooth surface, like those found on our electronics, or even paper, can't record a fingerprint for later retrieval: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/03/30/german_interior_minister_fingerprint... Keep in mind who you're protecting yourself from. I'd rely on passwords or, if I was really concerned, some sort of encryption key kept on some sort of external drive with a password: http://johnsonyip.com/wordpress/2010/05/01/make-a-key-file-for-truecrypt-vol... Sorry, but I had to. :) -- Too many emails? Unsubscribe, change to digest, or change password by emailing moderator at companys@stanford.edu or changing your settings at https://mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/liberationtech ----- End forwarded message ----- -- Eugen* Leitl <a href="http://leitl.org">leitl</a> http://leitl.org ______________________________________________________________ ICBM: 48.07100, 11.36820 http://www.ativel.com http://postbiota.org 8B29F6BE: 099D 78BA 2FD3 B014 B08A 7779 75B0 2443 8B29 F6BE