Having your computer infected with a virus can be a headache to deal with. Not only do you have to find the source of the infection to eliminate it but you may also be left with data that can no longer be trusted.
A single infected computer can takes hours to fix but imagine if your whole office network was infected with the virus and multiple computers had to be taken down. This is something that Ealing Council in the UK recently experienced.
Back in May someone within Ealing Council plugged a USB memory stick into their computer at the office. The memory stick was infected with a virus that spread throughout the council’s network, the result was very damaging as reported by the BBC News. Over a 12 day period the council’s phone and computer systems were being attacked by the virus and resulted in them having to shut everything down.
It cost Ealing Council £202,000 to fix the infected systems and because the Council couldn’t process parking fines, rent etc the total cost of the damage was £500,000.
I have a personal dislike for mobile devices such as USB memory sticks and I posted before about placing IT restrictions on USB devices. It is easy for me say don’t use USB sticks at the office but in some offices they are needed.
What about the people who need to use USB memory sticks?
There is no doubt that specific businesses need to use USB memory sticks but you should ask yourself, are they really needed in the office? If they are needed then how do you prevent them infecting office computers or being a source of a data breach?
Recently I have been deploying our data encryption service onto customer’s computers and a feature liked by most is what can be done with the USB ports on their computers.
We can place restrictions on USB ports within an office environment but we can do it in a way that USB devices can still be used by specific people. Let’s say for example your sales team need to use USB memory sticks but you want to stop everyone else from using them. Using DataDefense™ you can set-up rules to allow specific computers access to the USB ports and set-up restrictions on other computers.
The below are some of the options that are available within DataDefense™ that can be configured for computers that are using the DataDefense™ service:
- All USB Devices Allowed / DataDefense™ Flash Create Rights
- All USB Devices Allowed
- No USB Devices Allowed
- Only DataDefense™ Flash Allowed / DataDefense™ Flash Create Rights
- Only DataDefense™ Flash Allowed / No Create Rights
So what do these options mean exactly?
All USB Devices Allowed / DataDefense™ Flash Create Rights
With this option enabled USB devices can still be used on a computer but the user will be promoted if they would like to encrypt the USB memory stick and protect it with a username and password.
All USB Devices Allowed
No changes are made to the USB ports; they can still be used as normal. Nothing is protected.
No USB Devices Allowed
This option is total lock down on the USB ports; no devices such as a memory stick can be used on the computer.
Only DataDefense™ Flash Allowed / DataDefense™ Flash Create Rights
With this option enabled only USB devices that are protected with DataDefense™ can be used on the USB ports. If a device is not protected by DataDefense™ the user will be prompted to setup DataDefense™ on the attached USB device.
Only DataDefense™ Flash Allowed / No Create Rights
With this option enabled only USB devices that are protected with DataDefense™ will be allowed to be used on the PC. If the device is not protected by DataDefense™ then the computer will not recognise that its connected to the computer and cannot be used.
This option is useful for a business who wants to restrict USB memory sticks but still assign certain members of staff with a USB stick that has already been encrypted.
DataDefense™ has a more options than simply restricting USB devices and encrypting USB memory sticks.
DataDefense™ isn’t just about blocking or allowing USB devices on a business computer. It can also be used to delete data if the USB stick is ever lost or stolen and can even track what data gets copied to and from the USB stick.
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