Podslurping

I have been in security for a few years now but I never heard this term. The concept is all but new but when I heard this name, it made me laugh.

Podslurping is a term to describe where a portable storage device such as an iPod is used to illicitly download large quantities of data by directly plugging it in to a computer, where the data is held, or which is on the inside of a firewall where the data is held. As these storage devices get smaller and their storage capacity gets larger it is becoming an increasing security risk to companies and government agencies. Access is gained while the computer is unattended.

For the non-Apple fans, I can point out that the normal iPod classic now features 80GB and the second model 160GB. That's a lot of possible corporate data.