Commentary on Linux Attacks
Munich, 30 October 2017
Are you worried about security of your USB device? In this blog post we will share our 8 tips for USB security and we will show how DriveLock solutions can put an end to your concerns.
TABLE OF CONTENT |
Any of the above nightmares sound familiar?
They never stop – until you act up. In this blog post we explore how DriveLock solutions can put an end to this chaos!
Mobility is one of today’s key characteristics at both business and personal levels. A large chunk of our data is on the move with us, carried inside various forms of storage devices.
Since their advent around the year 2000, USB storage devices (including pen drives, external hard disks, and the like) have been an essential piece of our daily operations and have provided so much convenience that is impossible to give up. They have been the ultimate choice for many day-to-day functions; copying files around, sharing documents with external parties, short-term backups, etc.
There are 6 different types of USB ports which are being used.
So we live in a world heavily dependent on the use of USB drives, thus setting a policy in work environment that ultimately blocks access to those devices is not a wise choice and can negatively impact the business in one way or another. But still an open-access strategy for those devices imposes an extremely huge threat. Should organizations sacrifice security or usability? Let's have a look into this.
Downsides of USB storage devices are not hard to realize. Actually we face them every day and with every use of those devices. Their top benefit can also be the worst – mobility. As time advances, they are becoming relatively smaller, and grow larger in capacities. From the humble 8MB drive in the 2000's, today drives reach multiple magnitudes in GBs. In fact, some have reached up to 2TB! Now with such huge capacities, one can move around boatloads of data, which could be confidential, business critical or otherwise very sensitive. Imagine losing a non-protected drive used to backup customer-related information!
Continuing on the same subject, is the capability to intentionally leak business-critical data. For organizations having little to no control over files transferred to USB drives, leaking (and subsequently exposing) important data is inevitable. Check out the following news article on Mirror about a terrifying data leakage incident:
In addition to mobility and potential to lose data, USB storage devices have been a preferred choice to get malware inside an organization’s network. Based on this post on ELiE website 48% of people would plug-in USB drives found in areas such as parking lots. Malicious software of any type can easily enter the corporate network thru non-sanitized USB drives. According to Wikipedia, the Stuxnet worm was introduced to targeted victim environment via an infected USB flash drive. Also this Dark Reading article mentions a study found that 70% of businesses had linked data breach incidents they suffered to USB memory sticks, where those incidents were almost equally split between drive loss and drive-borne malware situations.
Native controls for devices found in operating systems are not adequate, not flexible, or both. Additionally, such controls bundled with some AV solutions cannot meet demanding business requirements today.
DriveLock offers next-generation endpoint protection solution called Device Control which is dedicated for controlling access to drives and devices connected to endpoints. The feature-rich solution helps businesses find a balance between data/endpoint protection and employee productivity. Let's see how.
Endpoint protection solutions are an extremely essential piece of any information security strategy. DriveLock adds great value with Device Control, but this is just one part of the wholistic solution which also includes:
Interested in evaluating Device Control or any of DriveLock solutions?
Choose from our risk-free evaluation options - on-premise or cloud environment. Either way, one of DriveLock experts will happily help you through the process!
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