Sneakernet

Encyclopedia : S : SN : SNE : Sneakernet

In a non-network environment, the floppy disk was once the primary means of transferring data between computers. Today, the CD-ROM or DVD-ROM would be more typical.

Sneakernet is, in hacker slang, the term used for transfer of electronic information (see: computer file) by physically carrying removable media (magnetic tape, floppy disks, compact discs, keydrives) from one computer to another. Sneaker refers to the shoes of the person carrying the media. This is usually in lieu of transferring the information over a computer network due to bandwidth limitations, lack of a network, or for security reasons.

It is also sometimes called tennisnet, armpitnet, floppynet, shoenet, walknet, frisbeenet, or footnet.

Sneakernets are in practical use in high-security environments, where manual inspection (for re-classification of information) is necessary. It is not uncommon to have systems dealing with information of different classifications physically disconnected from each other, and only have data exchange occur by means of a sneakernet. On the other hand, they provide an easy way to bypass security in many situations.

The SETI@home project uses a Sneakernet to overcome bandwidth limitations: data recorded by the radio telescope in Arecibo, Puerto Rico is stored on magnetic tapes which are then shipped to Berkeley, California for processing. In 2005, Jim Gray reported sending hard drives and even "metal boxes with processors" to transport large amounts of data by postal mail.http://www.acmqueue.com/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=43 In the War on Terror, sensitive military data on the sneakernet is a major concern as lost thumb drives are picked up and sold on the street.http://redtape.msnbc.com/2006/04/military_thumb_.html

This form of data transfer is also used for peer-to-peer (or friend-to-friend, rather) filesharing. This is particularly true since the advent of USB external hard drives, and in metropolitan areas.

The time it takes data to travel from point A to point B on Sneakernet is fixed, depending upon the mode of transportation. Thus, the bandwidth of this network is directly proportional to the size of the transmitted file. In addition, the time taken to write to the removable media at point A, and later read from the media at point B needs to be taken into account. While Sneakernets can achieve tremendous bandwidths, their latencies are very high. (See: Comparison of latency and bandwidth)

A widely-published social engineering attack using Sneakernet was conducted against a credit union in June 2006 by security firm Secure Network Technologies by planting USB drives containing viruses around the parking lot. Every drive found by an employee was used, transmitting secret data back to the security firm by e-mail.http://www.darkreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=95556&WT.svl=column1_1

Quote

"Never underestimate the bandwidth of a station wagon full of tapes hurtling down the highway." --

The original was much earlier; in Tanenbaum's 1981 textbook Computer Networks, the book's very first problem asks the student to calculate the throughput of a St. Bernard carrying floppy disks (which are said to hold 250kilobytes of data).

The first USENET citation is July 16 1985, and it was widely considered a chestnut already, possibly dating from the 1970s. Other alleged speakers included Tom Reidel, Warren Jackson, or Bob Sutterfield. The station wagon and mag tapes were the canonical version, but variants using trucks or Boeing 747s and later storage technologies such as CD-ROMs would frequently appear.

See also

• Jargon File
• Darknet

References