Fireguard is a secure portable browser designed to reduce both data leakage from browser data remnants and cyber attacks from malicious code exploiting vulnerabilites in browser plug-ins, extensions and software updates. A browser can leave data remnants on a host PC hard disk drive, often unbeknown to a user, in the form of cookies, histories, saved passwords, cached web pages and downloaded objects. Forensic analysis, using freely available computer forensic tools, may reveal sensitive and confidential information. A browser’s capability to increase its features through plug-ins and extensions and perform patch management or upgrade to a new release via a software update provides an opportunity for an attacker to embed malicious software and subsequently launch a cyber attack. Fireguard has been implemented using both Mozilla Firefox and the storage and protection capabilities of the Mini-SDV, a secure Portable Execution and Storage Environment (PESE). In this paper the design and development of Fireguard is discussed. The requirement for a secure PESE and the functionality of the Mini-SDV is presented. An overview is given of the motivation for the development of Fireguard. The reasons Firefox was selected and the Firefox structure and security vulnerabilities are summarised. The implementation approach adopted is discussed and the results of an analysis of the Firefox implementation are presented. The Mini-SDV configuration for Fireguard and an outline of the concept of operation is given. The changes made to Firefox to implement Fireguard as a browser that reduces the opportunity for data leakage and cyber attack, and minimises its forensic footprint are discussed. The paper concludes by considering the strengths and limitations of the Fireguard implementation.

Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) has become an established business practice, however the practice can increase an organisation’s information security risks. The implementation of a BYOD policy for laptops must consider how the information security risks can be mitigated or managed. The selection of an appropriate secure laptop software configuration is an important part of the information security risk mitigation/management strategy. This paper considers how a secure laptop software configuration, the Mobile Execution Environment (MEE) can be used to minimise risks when a BYOD policy for laptops is implemented. In this paper the security and business risks associated with the implementation of such a policy are identified and discussed before giving an overview of a range of laptop software configuration options suitable for the implementation of a secure BYOD policy. The design objectives and security requirements of the MEE are enumerated and its key features described. For each identified risk, the MEE features that mitigate/manage the risk are presented. The paper concludes by considering the type of work for which the MEE is most suited and also how the security features of the MEE can be enhanced when the MEE forms part of a secure portable execution and storage environment.

A Virtual Machine (VM) based secure Portable Execution Environment (PEE) provides a safe and secure environment that can be loaded into a host PC and an application executed with a degree of confidence that the application is separated, protected and little or no forensic evidence remains after the application has executed. A VM based secure PEE is characterised as a USB storage device containing a VM with a trusted guest operating system and application(s) which is stored in a protected partition, strong authentication to only allow an authorised user to load the VM into the host PC, and full storage device encryption to protect the confidentiality of the contents of the device. Secure PEEs provide an opportunity for organisations to issue a portable device to an individual (to perform a secure transaction on an available host PC) with the reduced risk to the organisation that neither malicious software (resident on the host PC) will infect the secure PEE device, nor sensitive data remnants (resulting from the transaction) will remain on the host PC hard disk drive after the secure PEE device has been removed. A VM based secure PEE significantly reduces the opportunity to use dead forensic analysis techniques to acquire evidence of the occurrence of a transaction. However, VM based secure PEEs are susceptible to the acquisition of data through monitoring software and live forensic techniques. This paper considers the mechanisms that can be used to prevent various monitoring and live forensic techniques acquiring data from a VM based secure PEE.