Security: BrickHouse Stealth IBot "Computer Spy", Friend or Foe?

Fri, Oct 9, 2009

I did network support Jerusalem for years, and among my client portfolio they all paid top dollar for security. Most of the budget is still spent on backups, and for a good reason: A regular hard drive is made of a magnetic coat, that in general will become faulty after 5 or 7 years. .

Real Case Studies. The two most security sensitive clients I had are a Lawyer for a large bank – collecting overdraft accounts and an American Head Hunting firm. In both cases their files, lawsuits and resumes, are critically vital to the company’s survival. Most firms are small sized 5-10 employees and there is trust.

Other Security Issues. File theft is not the only concern. Porn, is another big concern and social networking, during work hours. close to 30% of the country’s population has a Facebook page for instance (source: Facebook). While no one wants to become “office police” and ruin relationships, everyone knows that these practices severely hurt performance and morale.

Brickhouse security suggestion is the Stealh IBot computer spy. It is a USB drive that will install a “bot” when connected. Bickhouse claims that it will track every keystroke and up to 10.000 screen captures undetected after a 5 second installation. The USB drive does not have to be constantly connected. Brickhouse also claims that the computer spy can be resident and undetected by anti virus and anti spy ware applications.

Investment. The $129 price tag is understandable it can be easily reimbursed by catching under performing employees or even by the fear factor. It has a 1 gig capacity.

Ethic. Workforces are made of a social texture that involves friendship and trust, tools that are important for results. At the very moment co workers find that their pcs are monitored, they feel may feel abused and hurt. This hurts trust and friendship, that can be far more expensive than the lost performance. Not only that the computer spy does not guarantee it is use for company safety or for data theft itself. The border line here is very thin.

Conclusion. The computer spy, if it does everything it claims to do, is not a tool to be overlooked. Yet, since it can be more harmful than the damages it tries to prevent, its use has to be highly pondered.