The topic of securing USB flash drives has come up in numerous conversations in the past. We have certainly covered this on the podcast, but it has once again come up in conversation and we wanted to address a few items here.
As most of you are aware, USB flash drive products have been on the market since 2000, and their use is increasing exponentially. As both consumers and businesses have increased demand for these drives, manufacturers are producing faster devices with greater data storage capacities. Companies, in particular, are at risk when potentially sensitive data is being stored on unsecured USB flash drives by employees who use the devices to transport data outside the office. The consequences of losing drives loaded with such information can be significant, including the loss of customer data, financial information, business plans and other confidential information, with the associated risk of reputation damage.
It is critical that you have a solid USB policy for your organization and that you are sufficiently blocking all unauthorized USB devices from being plugged into your corporate computer systems.
When it comes to securing these devices, there is a wide range of security based on your individual needs and the type of data that is being stored on these devices. The most important thing is that this data is encrypted, and that tamper protection and brute force attack prevention is enabled.
So…which is the right device for you? Although there are many to choose from and we can get into a huge post about the pros and cons of each, Rasha Consulting recommends one of two devices if you have an interest in securing your data on these devices. Either the Apricorn Aegis or the IronKey depending on the application. For the most secure applications that also require a very high degree of physical tamper protection, we recommend the IronKey, which was funded by the US Department of Homeland Security in 2006 and specifically designed to detect and prevent tampering with the internal mechanics of the device. For those applications that require a scaled back version of tamper protection, we recommend the Apricorn Aegis because it is more affordable, especially if you have larger storage size requirements. These are excellent devices and still offer an amazing level of protection for your data.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to us by sending an email to sales@rashaconsulting.com