Great Gadgets > Data Recovery > P-rn Detection Stick

Perfect for detectives and security specialists, but also useful for parents monitoring kids and for users who want to clean up their own hard drives of unwanted p-rn images and files. Politicos wishing to play the p-rn blame game will also find this device indispensible to survival in today's "see all" environment.

• Simple operation.
• Completely self-contained.
• Portable. You can attach it to your keychain.
• Powerful.
• Effective.

As this device is definitely "white hat" and follows along with the goals of those doing the filtering out, we are skipping the "o" to avoid being filtered out.

What happened was detectives came up with some implausible "reason" to scan his hard drive. On it, they found a single "kiddie p-rn" image. It was actually, by one account, an image that was not its own file but just part of an e-mail that was an unrequested solicition. The accounts of what exactly happened vary, but all of them are clear that the image was commonly found on many computers at that time and not by invitation of the user.

After an extreme hassle and a lot of expense, he was cleared of all charges. Not because he was a celebrity, but because the case against him defied common sense and logic of any sort.

Still, common sense and logic didn't protect him from the loss of time and money incurred by being the innocent victim of someone else's perfidy. If he'd had this device, the problem would never have happened.

Home security. You may have heard the expression, "When seconds count, the cops are only minutes away." Cameras and other detection devices are great, but what's the execution plan? Don't think "detect and report," think "detect and protect." The most effective home protection device is a shotgun. Typically, it doesn't need to be fired to have the desired effect. But this isn't the only protection measure. You can also have an escape and assembly plan, a safe room, or some other measure. Yes, install those detection devices. But don't think that simply knowing your perimeter is breached makes you safe.

Corporate customers. Your situation is similar to that of the consumer, except there are more people involved and the property values are significantly greater. Also, consumers tend to be home at night and corporate customers are on the other shift so to speak. Corporate security specialists must also protect information, not just property or people. Not only do you need a perimeter breach detection system, but you need a high level of employee education on a wide range of security subjects. And this is where most corporate security bites the dust.

For example, consider usernames and passwords. Most employees think it's OK to give out one as long as you don't give out both. But there's a reason why you have both. And if you give out one, the other is probably easy to guess. Yes, you need to use technology wherever practical to counter theft and espionage, and to protect people from physical dangers. Don't stop there.

Put together a presentation on each security aspect (e.g., passswords would be one aspect; keycards another; suspicious persons another) and meet with all employees in a series of meetings consisting of small groups. The small group approach helps ensure people are fully participating. Absolutely do not use PowerPoint, which tends to render any attempt at actual communication a failed example of PowerPointlessness. Keep the meetings to about 10 minutes or less, so that people completely focus. Sure, this is not the typical meeting methodology, but then the typical meeting is a complete waste of time. Make your time count and get your message across.

Successful security planning. Fads come and go. We see it all the time. Manager who try launching a new program, often get that respons from employees. Anyone remember "Vision 2000?" The problem is that people see the plan as the end rather than a means to an end. So they polish the plan and forget why they are planning in the first place.

When plans roll out, they often seem absurd to the rank and file. And why is that? Because they are absurd! That is often true of security plans. These plans suffer from several different maladies. Sometimes all at once. These include the following.

• Overplanning. Never get started, because the plan isn't done.
• Underplanning. Going full bore, without a roadmap.
• Changing directions, midstream. This really confuses people. It happens because planners are still learning.
• Complexity. A simple plan, after all that work, seems like a letdown. The solution? Make things complicated. Add stuff that doesn't make sense. The more complex, the better, right? Wrong. Greater complexity just means more ways it can fail. Aim for simplicity.
• Covers too much. Can't leave anything to chance, right? Wrong. The more you try to cover, the more you dilute your resources. Focus on that which is most dangerous or costly. Let some things go, so you can do the job right on what matters.
• Apes someone else's plan. Just because it worked for someone else doesn't mean it will work for you. The idea of best practices is not copy and paste.
• It's top down. Your plan will fail if it assumes your people are the problem. Make them part of the solution. Form an advisory board that includes people from different parts of the company. You get insight from many angles, that way. And you have advocates for your plan at all levels, that way.

Rather than roll out some big plan, roll out a series of smaller ones. Make them modules for a larger plan. Module 1 might be bug detection. Buy a bug detector, and learn how to use it. Learn what to do about bugs. Fully develop that plan as you work through the module. Then you can apply the lessons you learned to the next module. Whatever that happens to be.

Once you've picked the low-hanging fruit, you can assess the need for calling in a security consultant. This person can evaluate your existing modules and suggest improvements. He or she can also suggest what module to develop next. And how best to go about it.

This approach allows you to get the highest return on your effort. And the fastest results. And good compliance.

• USB connection. Power via USB.
• Runs on Windows 98/SE, Windows ME, Windows 2000, Windows XP 32/64/Home/Professional, Windows Vista 32/64/Home/Professional, Windows 7 32/64/Home/Professional.

Notes for those scanning their own computers

• This p-rn detection stick is a thumb drive device that will search through all the images on your computer, scan them for p-rnographic content, and create a report of suspected p-rnographic images.
• It even scans deleted images and Internet cache files so there's no hiding Internet activity. This means even if Internet Explorer cache files are deleted, many images can still be recovered and scanned for p-rnography.
• Protect your computer from unwanted p-rnography.
• This p-rn detection stick offers you peace of mind that your system is clean of unwanted illicit or even illegal images.

Notes for detectives, intelligence operatives, and others searching third-party computers

• This p-rn detection stick is a thumb drive device that will search through all the images on the target computer, scan them for p-rnographic content, and create a report of suspected p-rnographic images.
• You leave no tracks. No software is installed on the target's machine, so they don't know you've performed a search.
• You can even securely delete objectionable images, if you are part of a security detail assigned to protect your target from his/her own stupidity.

A complete scan may take several hours to complete. But that's easily accomodated and sometimes well worth the wait.

• Parents monitoring kids.
• Users who want to recover their own lost data.
• Users searching for unauthorized content on their computer or mobile device.
• A business that needs to recover important files that were deleted (inadvertently or otherwise).

• Continued use of the device. Why: If you keep using it, you may write over the area that contains your data. The phrase "lost forever" fits nicely here.
• Attempted restore from external backup drive or other backup source. Why: Your backup may be corrupt. But also, you may write over the area that contains your data and there's that "lost forever" thing again.
• Shutting device off. Why: Restarting it may result in over the area that contains your data. And you know what that means.

• Stop using the device, but leave it on. This way, you don't do a restart that might overwrite your data. Of course, if the device is locked up then you have no choice but to do a reset or reboot.
• Use the datastick to restore the file to a new location (this can be temporary) so you don't overwrite anything. Immediately rename the restored file so the name is slightly different from the name of the original (e.g., append a letter "a" to the filename but not to the extension).

• Use the external backup to restore the file to a new location (this can be temporary).
• Rename the file in each restored location so the name is unique.
• Compare files.
• Once you've made any necessary corrections, make a new backup and then check the file again after a restart/reboot. Once you've confirmed it's OK, you can archive the restoration files or delete them.

Restoration Example
Suppose the original filename is 1040Taxes2001.pdf and, like the IRS, it's now corrupt. Since the IRS has many ways to get around the Statute of Limitations on Assessment, you don't ever want to lose your tax files. You might need this file 30 years hence. This example assumes the problem occurred on your Windows PC. While a similar problem is unlikely on a Mac, it could happen. The same logic applies. Ditto for mobile devices.

Per Murphy's Law, you were just assessed for this tax year and midway through your review of the file your computer crashes. After rebooting, you find the file is corrupted.

1. Use the datastick to recover the file.
2. On your computer, create a directory 00restore (the two zeroes put it at the top of your directory list when you view through Windows Explorer).
3. Restore the file to that directory, then rename it 1040Taxes2001a.pdf.
4. Restore the 1040Taxes2001.pdf. from your external backup to that directory, then rename it 1040Taxes2001b.pdf.
5. Compare 1040Taxes2001a.pdf to 1040Taxes2001b.pdf. If they look the same, then copy 1040Taxes2001a.pdf to 1040Taxes2001.pdf. in the 00restore directory.
6. Move 1040Taxes2001.pdf to the original file location.

The above steps are for the prudent person who wants to ensure that file doesn't get destroyed. If you feel lucky today (and Clint Eastwood isn't pointing a Smith & Wesson Model 29 at you), you could just restore directly from the datastick and likely not have any problems. But if your luck is so good, why did you lose the file in the first place? It's better to take a little extra time, rather than rely on luck.

Preventive measures
Data loss is often due to seemingly innocuous mistakes that people make. Follow these tips:

• Never use spaces in filenames. Microsoft says this is OK. This is the same company that said Windows 2000 would not fragment a hard drive but it fragged badly. So with XP, "Fragging won't happen. Trust us!" XP, like subsequent releases of Windows, fragments hard drives. The same lack of credibility applies to spaces in filenames. Just don't do it.
• Frequently run a disk defragmenter on your PC. This helps prevent issues with files cross-linking and destroying each other.
• Back up daily. Yes, you might back up a bad file over a good one. The solution that the truly prudent (or truly paranoid, depending on your viewpoint) use is to have a separate backup drive to use for each day of the week. This gives you seven days of restorable backup.
• Periodically review critical files to ensure they are still intact.
• Back up critical files additionally to an offsite location. Any Webhost can set you up with a private location backup folder. You can, alternatively, us a backup service.
• Keep idiots away from your computer and mobile device(s). Where this is not possible, restrict access. For example, a Windows system allows you to create a guest profile. Let that person log in as the guest. But make sure you go over the settings NOW so that guest profile is ready and safe for even an idiot to use.