More security questions raised about free laptop scheme

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While the intention behind giving 270,000 underprivileged children free laptops is admired by many, some think the Government hasn’t considered the security risks the scheme could pose.

Ash Patel, UK manager for security networking provider Stonesoft, believes that unaware users could easily and inadvertently create security breaches in local government networks that, in turn, could even work their way up to Whitehall.

In an interview with IT PRO, he said: “How many of them will actually be used to connect to the resources they are meant to and even when they are, [where] else have those laptops been going? What malware have they got on them?”

He added: “Then think, the school network is connected to what? The County Council network. The County Council network is connected to what? The central Government network.”

However, even if the Government went through the right channels with authentication processes, the potential scale may not have been considered, according to Patel.

Becta has made it clear that anti-virus will be preloaded onto all the laptops, offering protection to users immediately. "All Home Access packages have been specially designed to provide learners and their families with a safer online experience," it says on its website.

Patel isn't the first to raise the issue. Earlier this month at the eCrime Congress, Mark Osborne, chief information and security officer of Interoute, claimed the scheme could lead to an increase in botnets as those handed the machines might not fully understand the security risks.

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