UK military: iPod is security risk

[Mac Reporter]

Tuesday, July 13, 2004 Posted: 9:40 AM EDT (1340 GMT)
LONDON, England (Reuters) -- Music fans, beware: Britain's Ministry of Defence has become the latest organization to add the iPod to its list of high-tech security risks.

The pocket-sized digital music player, which can store thousands of songs, is one of a series of banned gadgets that the military will no longer allow into most sections of its headquarters in the UK and abroad.

Devices with large storage capabilities -- most notably those with a Universal Serial Bus (or USB) plug used to connect to a computer -- have been treated with greater suspicion of late by government agencies and corporations alike.

The fear is that the gadgets can be used to siphon information from a computer, turning a seemingly innocuous device into a handy tool for data thieves.
Read more.

[Absinth]

I wonder if our Department of National Defense will issue a similar restriction.

[PatrickGaerlan]

The Ministry of Defence has denied reports that it has banned Apple's iPod due to fears it could be used to steal sensitive files.

News reports said the music player and other portable storage devices had been banned from most sections of its headquarters in the UK and abroad.

But a MOD spokesman told BBC News Online that was there no outright ban on the iPod.

"Certainly it is not the case that the MOD has banned these," he said.

Read more at BBC News.