?The problem we're discussing here is really transitive trust. The idea is that if you trust A and A trusts B, you implicitly are trusting B whether you should or not. So if you trust the executive but the executive's home network is insecure, you're trusting an insecure network? according to Marcus Ranum, Senior Scientist at risk management company Trusecure Corporation and author of Myth of Homeland Security.

Ranum goes on to say ?In the commercial world, transitive trust is largely ignored because worrying about it removes all the commercial value of a network. After all, you can't DO E-commerce unless you're willing to do it with semi-trusted or un-trusted (or "of unknown trust") systems and networks. That's one reason you have things like a worm getting loose in one company's network and spreading to another company through their business-to-business connection. Or employees coming in with a laptop and infecting everyone with a worm.?

If you trust another entity, be it a remote site of your own company, a business partner or supplier network or an employee?s home computer you are potentially creating a secret passage or back door into your network that you have little or no control over and can?t guarantee the security of.

On the topic of employees using insecure systems to access the corporate network Dan Appleman, author of Always Use Protection and co-founder of APress Publishing, states ?the corporate offices are usually secured physically - most companies don't let strangers walk in the door and sit down on network machines.

With remote access, it's not uncommon for users to configure their computer to remember the logon information for the corporate network, meaning that anyone with access to the machine can get in. If the machine is stolen, the thief has full access - and theft is generally easier out of the home than a corporate office. And when you start discussing laptops... well, that's where theft vulnerability really takes off. And if your kid is using your machine and is just a bit curious...?

Appleman added ?Even if the executive's machine is kept secure, it may be vulnerable to attacks by way of other systems on the home network - the teen who downloaded a Trojan hidden in a game hack, for example.?

It seems that it is hard enough to just keep your own network protected from both external threats and from your own users knowing just enough to be dangerous and constantly finding new ways to circumvent the security that has been implemented. It is beyond the resources of virtually any network security administrator to also try to protect or even just keep tabs on any home users? networks or business partner networks that connect to the company network remotely.