Data theft via portable devices has become increasingly easy using portable devices such as USB thumb drives, flash memory cards, infrared, and Bluetooth devices. This puts sensitive data such as Social Security numbers, customer and company information at risk. With increasingly larger storage capacities, within minutes an employee or unauthorized user can walk away with large amounts of your company data. These devices also represent a threat to your network by introducing viruses or other malicious code.
SanDisk recently warned that IT is unaware of how many employees bring personal USB flash drives into the workplace. Their study found that 77% of corporate employees surveyed admitted to using personal flash drives for work related purposes. IT departments estimated the number to be 33%.
For IT departments that need to allow certain employees access with USB drives SanDisk offers an innovative solution with their Central Management System which allows you to centrally manage company issued Cruzer Enterprise USB drives.
Most IT departments try to address this issue with group policy rules that disable the use of USB storage devices. Cisco also recently announced a fully integrated endpoint security solution in their Cisco Security Agent that addresses not only USB flash drives, but also other devices.
In summary portable storage devices present a threat to company data and expose IT systems to potential harm. Most IT departments seem to be oblivious to the threat or have only partially addressed the issue. IT Security Management should review their policies and protection methods to ensure data is protected. If certain employees require the use of portable devices as part of their job, your IT department should explore options to control the devices, how they can be used and monitored. An education program for employees on the company policy concerning portable devices should be developed and deployed.
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