Laptop owners, beware of hackers!

[Emilio]

If you leave your corporate laptop in "sleep" mode for a few moments to go buy another latte, the encryption software should keep the company secrets safe from a thief, right?

Maybe not, according to new research from a team of academic computer hackers.

The authors, most from Princeton University, found a way to bypass common security measures simply by turning locked or sleeping laptops off and on again. They rebooted the machines with their own software, and were easily able to extract secret encryption "keys" that remained in temporary working memory.

Contrary to popular belief, data stored in this DRAM (dynamic random access memory) do not disappear immediately upon shutoff. The researchers found data could last up to a minute on some machines - plenty of time, they say, for a thief to zip in and do his work. And it remained far longer if the machine was quickly cooled.

BEWARE! DON'T JUST LEAVE YOUR NOTEBOOKS ANYWHERE!

[Alchemist]

The advent of wireless fidelity (WiFi), more and more laptop users are vulnerable to malicious hackers. I came across this article which could provide insight and assistance to you guys

Protect Yourself Against Wi-Fi Hackers