Laptops

JMC0759

S-USMMA '12 SUNY 15, D-USAFA '15 TTUHSC '20
10-Year Member
5-Year Member
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Jan 11, 2008
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DS said that he received an email from campus today stating that upon his return that all the USB ports on his laptop will be disabled. His laptop crashed during his first sea split last year. He was lucky to have backed up his project onto an external hard drive. Without a USB port that option no longer exists. Has anybody else heard about this? This does not sound like a good idea!
 
Yes, I've heard the same thing. Our ds told us about it. He is at his first sea time out right now. I told him it might be a good idea to find another computer from which to download his work other than the one he has. when we asked why the change he said it had to do w/ the security. Funny thing is that the other Academies aren't doing the same thing.....:confused:
 
This is a fairly common network security feature amongst companies (at least hospitals that I've worked in) and is now also DoD wide. If I stick anything into the USB port my computer is immediately locked out and the only way to unlock is to go in front of my Commanding Officer and explain why I was boneheaded enough to do so.

It stinks, it stinks even more in an educational setting; however, you find ways to deal with it. You end up emailing more, you end up using a network share drive more (if available, would be nice at KP), and you end up remembering what that CD writable drive is for.

I must say that no matter how much I hate this it actually is a huge security risk to allow thumb drives/external hard drives to a network. They are almost always manufactured in foreign countries (ie China) and who knows what those companies are putting in the background of the drives. The other issue is simply what people do with the drives. They put all sorts of internet downloaded and transferred files on them and rarely run a malware/virus scan on the things. Then there is the "hey look what I found" idea and the first instinct is to immediately insert it in the computer.

Now, my guess is that the IT dept will find a way to work with this and the midshipmen. The DoD has begun to allow some external drives back on; however, they have to be vetted by the IT's and can then not be connected to any computer outside the network.
 
Prior to departing for term breaks and Sea Year assignments, you can visit the Service Center and have the USB removable storage media restriction--along with all other FDCC constraints--removed from your PCs.
that's from the head guy at DoIT. still stinks...
 
I forgot all about writing files to CDs. Does anyone suggest taking a second computer out to sea?
 
My DS just left for sea term and we decided to purchase a small laptop for him to take as backup in addition to his school computer and exterior thumb drives.

Has anyone considered using an off site backup network while at sea to backup the project? This way it can be retrieved without worrying about computer crashes at sea. Some parent told me that their DS's equipment all failed at sea (some kind of electrical interference problem?) and he lost everything on all backup equipment and his computer. It would seem safer if they could back up to one of these off site services, assuming the internet can be accessed somewhere, probably in a port. Has anyone tried this?
 
I should know better than to worry about all this because I'm sure DS is or will be on top of it but ...
he is at sea with his laptop... and all these new computer security rules have unfolded since he's been gone. I don't believe he has access to email right now to get the information. The ship's email was out when he left port in Houston and since we haven't heard a word from him, it BETTER still be out :biggrin:
I'll just wait until we hear from him and mention it to him then. Nothing else I can do so why fret... right? Right!!:rolleyes:
 
Sure hope the USB PRINTERS they were issued, as well as USB drives they were issued will work. still.
 
jessibee! Our ds is out about 1 wk now and haven't gotten an email either. Do you know how long it takes for them to get a ship email acct? I know he's busy and I'm not expecting to get many emails. Thanks!:biggrin:
 
jessibee! Our ds is out about 1 wk now and haven't gotten an email either. Do you know how long it takes for them to get a ship email acct? I know he's busy and I'm not expecting to get many emails. Thanks!:biggrin:

This varies greatly between ships. One ship may have no email access for the crew and the next may have individual email accounts for each person. You really won't know until your mid talks to you and unless someone has been on that particular ship before they probably won't know.

Remember the internet connections on ships are not like home. They work via satellite communication which can be quite costly and these are commercial ventures (except MSC) which are looking to make the most profit. Private communication is not a top priority in the budgeting process.
 
KP2013dramamama said:
Do you know how long it takes for them to get a ship email acct?
Generally speaking if the company allows crew email he will have an email address as soon as he gets aboard. He will simply take over the email address of the previous cadet.
 
one other thing.. If your cadet as any problems with cadet email account they can always go to the bridge, cargo office (or in many cases the engineroom) and send an email from there.. The address for those locations would look something like this..
bridge.hawk@horizonlines.com.
This would be the email address for the bridge of the MV HORIZON HAWK
 
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