> Desktop Security
Cornell's Spider
About Spider
(From Cornell)
Spider's purpose is to identify files that may contain confidential data. It scans a collection of
files, searching for patterns of numbers or letters that resemble Social Security numbers or credit card
numbers (additional search patterns can be created using Unix regular expressions). Spider creates a log
that lists all the files identified as potentially containing confidential data. The person using Spider
should then look through this log, examine each of the files listed, and take steps to protect any files
that prove to contain confidential data. Protection steps may include encrypting files, or moving files
to a secure server or to offline storage. It is against University policy to keep sensitive data on an
unsecured workstation.
- NOTE: Spider will misidentify certain types of files as containing confidential data. Every effort should
be made to verify Spider's results before moving, encrypting, or removing files. RPM, TIFF, and TrueType
font are among the file types notorious for false positives.
- IMPORTANT: Spider's logs can function as a roadmap to confidential data and must be well secured.
Recommendations
Here are a set of steps to take to optimize scanning at MSU:
(see Cornell's instructions
for help with these tasks)
- Move all files & folders that are known to have sensitive data into a folder
on the secure server (this is for MSU employees & sensitive MSU data ONLY).
If you do not have a folder on the secure server, you can go
here to request
storage space. If you have questions, you can contact
Adam Edelman at x5091.
- Create a regular expression for the GID: -0\d{7}\b
- Check any file found in the log created by Spider.
- If it has sensitive data, move it to the folder created above.
Click here for a document on recommended use of Spider at MSU.
Click here for Cornell's instructions on how to install & use Spider.
Click here to download the installation package.
If the above link doesn't work, try the alternate download.
If you are having trouble with this page...you probably can't read this and any contact information I put here would be useless.
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