Look Who's Talking Now

I started my new job today. I'll post a little about it in the coming days, but for now I want to talk about my commute. I live about 35 miles away from the new job so I decide to take public transportation. I take an express bus into town and then hop on the subway and get out right at my office building. I like this for several reasons. One, it's lots cheaper than driving 70 miles round trip in Atlanta traffic. Two, it gives me time to read, think, listen to my IPod or nap. Three, it keeps me from going to jail because if I had to sit in traffic for an hour or more every day I would go mad and do something really stupid.

From time to time I would look up from the book I was reading or wake from the nap I was taking and look around at the people on the bus with me. You wonder who they are, what they do, who they work for, etc... and if you listen close enough you can hear their conversations, phone calls, or see what they are reading or working on. The same thing is true for those who travel by air regularly. People just let the whole world in on what's going on with them. It doesn't matter if it's public, private, personal or professional. People just don't pay attention to what they are doing or saying.

Then today I ran across this article on Bankinfosecurity.com that talks about this very thing. The article requires you to register on their site for free, but the jest of it was that just by listening the author was able to glean lots of information about the bank that this person worked for. Name, phone number, part of an account number, etc... All because this person didn't take simple precautions while working and talking during a commute on public transportation.

It's easy to get caught up in the moment and forget about your surroundings, but if you are dealing with sensitive information you really need to pay more attention.