| It is increasingly common to hear of someone in the | | | | be near impossible to decipher. |
| news losing customer information on a company | | | | The more costly approach to USB flash security is to |
| laptop or memory stick. This article looks at hardware | | | | use hardware encryption in specially designed USB |
| and software options for USB flash security that firms | | | | drives. Hardware encryption is widely used to fix |
| and individuals should be considering. | | | | computer security issues by transparently encrypting |
| USB drives are great for their portability and ability to | | | | data as it is being stored to memory. Users can |
| store huge volumes of data that would have | | | | provide and additional password that is used with the |
| previously gone on hundreds of floppy disks. Securing | | | | hardware's own encryption. |
| this data without impeding the portability of the | | | | Note that if the password is lost in either option then |
| information is crucial to protecting the financial | | | | the data cannot be recovered. The hardware |
| information, source code, employee data and other | | | | approach protects companies from using weak |
| information that these USB drives invariably carry. | | | | passwords, but software that uses strong |
| Securing USB data can be done using a software or | | | | cryptography algorithms should still provide a high level |
| hardware approach. | | | | of security even in the case of weak passwords |
| The software approach involves installing an | | | | being used. |
| application (e.g. FreeOTFE or TrueCrypt) on the drive | | | | Employees should follow the USB flash security policy |
| that encrypts information as it is being stored. The data | | | | of their firm, which may actually preclude the use of |
| is only as secure as the algorithm that the software | | | | USB sticks, and home users should make password |
| makers use combined with the complexity of the | | | | protecting USB data as important as backing up the |
| password used. If the device is lost then hackers may | | | | drives contents. |
| be able to read the memory and the data but it should | | | | |