Comments on: 8 Steps to Securing a Public Machine

By: Ean L.

Ean L. — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 00:27:54 +0000

I’ve actually run into public use PCs where the employed systems admin runs a restore on all workstations as soon as they’re used. It may seem like a drastic measure on their end, but I also figure it keeps them from doing more costly acts of maintenance should their computers actually be compromised by user error. They’ve managed to design their systems so that system restoration is quick, painless and efficient, so that PCs are up and running in a couple of minutes.

By: Vicky Paige

Vicky Paige — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 07:19:54 +0000

Not to veer too far off topic or anything, but I am curious on how the popularity of netbooks has affected the prevalence of public use computers now that netbooks are, definitely, more affordable than ever before. I see more and more places offering wireless connectivity since most people nowadays bring their own laptop or netbook anyway.

On a related note, are there any security vulnerabilities when accessing a public network?

By: Wanda

Wanda — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 18:15:22 +0000

I completely agree that physical security should be the utmost priority in securing and working on a public PC. With remote access to the PC being readily available to the public, it’ll be hard enough to try to traffic the varied number of users, even more so the kind, type and amount of data being installed, used and retrieved from the unit. Having a separate USB cable to manage public devices is always a good idea.

By: Emmanuel Carabott

Emmanuel Carabott — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 10:21:06 +0000

That’s a very valid point Sue. I guess that happens because people are used to that at home so the same behavior continues in public places too.

In any case your suggestion for systems to log off automatically after a short period is definitely a very good one and actually deserved to be in the list above! Thanks a lot for pointing it out

By: Sue Walsh

Sue Walsh — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 04:06:40 +0000

Smart, common sense advice. What concerns me is how many people use public machines to log into their social networking account or check their email, and then walk away without logging off. Public machines need some kind of software that automatically logs someone off after a pre-determined period of non-activity.