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Shoulder Surfing The Friendly Skies
Posted by Rick Holland on December 16, 2012
FAIL at 30,000ish feet
When you fly nearly every week, you can get pretty bored on a plane. When I am sick of working, playing games, or watching movies, my latest distraction is checking out laptop screens. Sometimes I'm curious what movie you are watching but other times I am interested in what type of confidential company information you are displaying for the world to see. In the past few weeks I have seen the following types of information on my fellow flyer's screens:
- End of year/end of quarter sales numbers
- Disciplinary emails regarding employee peformance
- Pre launch marketing information (which I presumed to be under embargo)
- Competitive displacement information
Most of the time I suggest that my fellow traveler invest in a privacy screen, and most of the time they are receptive to the suggestion. It really is astounding how many people don't spend the approximate $30 on one. If your company doesn't issue them, I suggest you work to change that stance. World readable aren't the permissions you want on your laptop screen, time for chmod (UNIX joke).
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Comments
Thanks for sharing your
Thanks for sharing your voyeuristic travel habits Rick. I suspect many people do the same but are afraid to admit it.
I wonder why laptops don’t come with privacy screening technology already built into the display.
What would happen if you took a picture with your cell phone of that person’s laptop screen? Since they are viewing it in a public place (at least I think a plane is considered a public place), would they have any legal recourse against you?
Thanks for sharing your
Thanks for sharing your voyeuristic travel habits Rick. I suspect many people do the same but are afraid to admit it.
I wonder why laptops don’t come with privacy screening technology already built into the display.
What would happen if you took a picture with your cell phone of that person’s laptop screen? Since they are viewing it in a public place (at least I think a plane is considered a public place), would they have any legal recourse against you?
NMAP @ 30,000 feet
LOL, I was travelling to Blackhat this year and watched one of my fellow passengers running NMAP scans from his laptop using the airplane's WIFI connection. Turns out he was a friend of mine, but it was very funny.
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