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my Mrs has just started new job and got a new MS Surface. The laptop is fairly well connected to the server and they can log on remotely etc etc to fix stuff, but she has a memory stick with personal files she needs to access now and then but her old laptop died and doesn’t want to fork out for a new one just to use very infrequently.
If she opens up these files on a USB stick will that leave any impression on her laptop and would they see her stuff, even with the memory stick removed?
I very much doubt it unless she copies them across to the tablet.
A bigger concern would be that she's trusting a pendrive to hold her personal files. What if the drive dies, or she loses it? Get it backed up somewhere (OneDrive / Google Drive / Dropbox et al).
Its very unlikely that your files will be "just sitting there" for the next normal user to open, unless you copy them over yourself. An admin or skilled user might be able to access cached copies though, if they're so inclined.
If a company has a "no personal data" rule then it can expect that devices attached belong to it, and reasonably include them in its backup policies.
If you're hoping you'll leave no trace when you plug a device in to a work PC; it depends how tight the company's security policies are.
Important data on a USB stick, and no PC - thats odd. 🙂 I assume you have a smartphone, find someone friendly to drop the files in your Google Drive or Apple drive, so you have a backup you can access / email to yourself / whatever.
I have just had to 'train' mrs_oab to move from a pendrive (encrypted) to a cloud backup on GLOW (all Scottish Teachers have access) which is basically OneDrive.
We are opposite in that she has no work device, and so our issue was not having temp files or images of children on our own devices. She hates having to work on cloud, but it has to happen.
I'd be a bit cautious - stuff like LibreOffice, 7zip and MS office might leave stuff in the "temp" folder (probably user temp e.g. "C:\Users\YourNameHere\AppData\Local\Temp") - stuff like auto backups etc.
Any stuff that uses a browser may leave a history of sorts in the browser cache (MS online office products etc).
If the company has a "no USB" rule, they may have software to watch for USB insertion/removal actions.
If you’re hoping you’ll leave no trace when you plug a device in to a work PC; it depends how tight the company’s security policies are.
Having worked in areas where any USB device is scanned and the content logged (and a report issued to let everyone know what was found) expect that work can see it all and work back from there.
Important data on a USB stick, and no PC – thats odd. I assume you have a smartphone, find someone friendly to drop the files in your Google Drive or Apple drive, so you have a backup you can access / email to yourself / whatever.
she has most of her stuff on various cloud stuff, but this one last USB device hasn’t been uploaded and her laptop has died, so she has no way up getting it from USB to cloud, except the USB.
I’m trying to ascertain if it’s uplaoded direct from the usb it’ll leave copies on the work laptop...
It won't leave a copy as such but depending on how it's set up it could be read, scanned and the uploads logged via a corporate server. However if it's just a laptop fresh out of a box probably not.
Can she actually plug in a USB memory stick and read it? Every employer I've worked for disables the USB ports on work devices, because they are a huge security hole.
I think what this is highlighting is we can't know unless we work there!!
If it's stuff you are not comfortable with your employer seeing then it shouldn't be anywhere near a work laptop.
Get a USB OTG adapter, then plug the USB stick into your phone.
Buy a second hand laptop or cheap chrome book for your personal files and needs?
I have a very simple no personal files anywhere near my work computers. Keeps it simple. They may well scan and log all files and there is a danger that your wife may inadvertently save the personal files to a network drive or something
Given a laptop or chromebook can be had for <£200 I really don’t see the point of mixing work and pleasure.
Most places I’ve work have locked down usb sticks anyway as they are a security risk so would not be able to plug one in most times anyway.
If they have a no personal file policy and a virus is picked up from the USB stick then I would imagine it is dismissal time :(. I'm seeing more companies lock out personal drives and email because once on the computer the virus can get onto any file shares. I confess that I wouldn't if that is the agreement.
Even if the AV blocks a virus it would still register the filename centrally and might even quarantine the whole file
If the policy is no personal stuff then I wouldn't