In this case an unencrypted USB memory stick was lost. Alexei Lesnykh, business development manager of DeviceLock, said: “The security errors made by PA Consulting were allowing information to be stored on an insecure device without sufficient levels of protection and failing to put in place a policy which could track the data and how it was being accessed.
“Technological measures such as endpoint security software offers policy based control for portable storage devices and ports including USB ports, CD-ROMs, storage devices, MP3 players, as well as granular access control, auditing and shadowing of files and other sensitive data copied between PCs and Windows mobile-based devices. This ensures that no information can be removed or copied from the corporate system without permission.”
Hot on heels
Hot on their heels were Stonewood, who emailed us to say: “Experts at leading British designer and manufacturer of encrypted hard drives, Stonewood, will be introducing an encrypted memory stick within weeks to the market which would have prevented what is being described as a massive failure of duty by ministers.”
Their director Grant Gutteridge is quoted as saying: “Companies and individuals seldom recognise the value of their data until such time as it has been breached or lost. Sensitive data should never be stored on non-secure, unencrypted portable devices. It is deeply alarming that people are unaware that the technology exists to securely store confidential personal details and it’s the responsibility of everyone to ensure they encrypt their sensitive data.”
It must be more alarming to Grant and his company than to many others, I’d imagine. Stonewood’s new encrypted USB Flash drive – which is part of its Eclypt freedom family of encrypted portable devices, in case you weren’t aware – includes an external USB hard disk drive featuring 320GB or 500GB capacity. This “means there are no excuses for these data losses”, Stonewood says. No excuse at all.
