Removable Media Encryption
When most people discuss data going on to removable media they typically think of USB drives/devices.
So easy has it become to copy data on to these devices and transport them to other machines either on or off site that in many organisations it has become the accepted norm, simply because they are so convenient.
However because these devices are so convenient (i.e. they are small and east to carry), they are also extremely easy to misplace. Some reports from our customer base alone have indicated that an average computer user loses up to two devices per year.
Its easy to understand why many organisations turn to pre-encrypted devices to ensure that data remains secure. These devices provide excellent security for any data copied on to them. However they tend to be very expensive and ensuring users are forthcoming when they lose them is critical to ensuring they don’t go back to using unencrypted devices.
Thankfully there is another more cost effective way of ensuring data copied removable media is always protected and that’s through the use of software encryption. Software encryption allows almost any type of conventional removable media to be utilised, whilst still ensuring that data written to these devices in stored in an encrypted manner.
The advantages of such technology mean that data transported within an organisation can be transparently (i.e. without entering password details) accessed between groups of users (controlled within a management console) and where data goes off site that a password control system is used to allow access in a similar fashion to pre-encrypted devices. However the software alternative is considerably less expensive (per head) than pre-encrypted devices and if a user loses the device they only need to replace it with a low cost device as a verse to expensive pre-encrypted solution.
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