The Network Security. Org

New Security Directions for Removable USB Devices

The development and adoption of removable USB mass storage is truly remarkable. Never before has it been so easy to move gigabytes of information around on a portable device that is small enough to clip onto a key chain. These devices have large capacities and they can copy data at lightning speed.

It?s hard to buy a USB flash drive these days with less than 128MB of storage and some devices can achieve data rates greater than 20MB per second. The technology is so convenient and powerful that we wonder how we could have lived without it. It?s unthinkable to use floppy disks for the amount of data that we need to carry around today. While the capacity of a CD-RW might be sufficient the procedure of inserting and ?burning? simply can?t compete with the ease of plugging a flash drive into the USB port.

On the other hand, most security officers wish that this technology didn?t exist at all. First of all it is a medium that can carry computer viruses and software that shouldn?t be used in the corporate environment. Probably more disturbing is that the shear volume of proprietary information that could leave the corporate environment undetected through these devices is an enormous exposure for corporations. Corporate executives are losing sleep not knowing how much intellectual property is lost or stolen through this wide open channel. ?In interviewing Fortune 500 company CIOs and CSOs we found that they have no visibility into the quantity of information that leaves the organization through portable devices such as laptops and USB memory sticks?, according to Sean Wray, VP of Security Solutions at MobileSecure. New Security Directions for Removable USB Devices - IT Observer

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