Kingston Digital, Inc., the Flash memory affiliate of Kingston Technology Company, Inc., the independent world leader in memory products, today identified best practices and the risks associated with a lack of security policies in organizations using USB Flash drives containing confidential corporate data.
“Data is the DNA of any company and as such, must be protected at all times and handled cautiously and wisely,” said John Terpening, secure USB business manager, Kingston®. “Data on USB devices should be secured and policies implemented to ensure the information is safeguarded, stored, downloaded, and shared with only authorized parties. Failure to do so exposes a company to a host of negative consequences including non-compliance, fines, financial loss and lack of customer confidence and trust.”
Based on Kingston’s extensive market experience and customer feedback, the company identified the top best practices that organizations should follow to promote the use of secure USB Flash drives to protect confidential data. The complete list, Best Practices: Using and Promoting Secure USB Flash Drives in Your Organization, can be found here.
Below is a list of a few of those recommendations:
- Build an Encrypted USB Plan: Protect & Comply
The best time to develop an encrypted USB plan is before you need to prove you had one ― incorporate secure USB Flash drives and policies into your organization’s overall security strategy. - Identify the Most Suitable USB Flash Drives for Your Organization
Select the correct USB Flash drive that fits your organization’s needs. Simple analysis of what your organization needs and knowing there’s a range of easy-to-use, cost-effective, secure USB Flash drive solutions can go a long way toward enabling your organization, and your end users, to get a handle on the issue. - Train and Educate
Establish a training program that educates all employees on acceptable and unacceptable use of USB Flash drives. - Establish and Enforce Policies
Institute policies for the proper use of electronic portable storage media including, USB Flash drives. If you don’t have the right policies in place for all to follow, USB drives can potentially be the downfall of your data security strategy. Setting a policy is just the first step, but it’s an incredibly important one.
Security breaches continue globally and many are the result of either lost or unsecured USB drives. Last August, the Ponemon Institute released a report, The State of USB Drive Security, which interviewed nearly 750 IT professionals and IT security practitioners from global companies based in the United States. The report revealed that while companies understand that employee ‘negligence’ puts their organizations at risk, many of these same companies do not take the necessary steps to use secure USB drives and set proper policies. The report found that of those polled, 71 percent do not consider protecting confidential and sensitive information on USB Flash drives to be a high priority even though the majority of them feel that data breaches are caused by missing USB drives.
The report further uncovered that businesses are still astoundingly lax when it comes to USB security despite recognizing the dangers and negative ramifications. Less than a third of them believe they have adequate policies to prevent USB misuse and, on average, lost 12,000 customer records per organization due to missing USB drives. Additionally, a staggering number of employees use or have used free and unsecured USB drives from conferences and trade shows, representing a potential security breach in one’s back pocket.
“The solutions for securing USB drives and getting employees to support and adhere to the rules and policies should not be complex and expensive, nor should it reduce employee productivity,” continued Terpening. “Our goal is to help businesses close the security gap by bridging best practices with secure USBs and to make it as seamless and simple as possible.”
For more detailed information visit www.kingston.com/secure.
