Page 18 - Security Today, July/August 2019

Encrypted USB Drives One of the most effective, cost-efficient cybersecurity solutions
BTy Richard Kanadjian
he term “bad actor” once only referred to someone making a living in Tinsel Town. Now governments have used those words to describe rogue op-
erators who carry out missions or perform actions with the intent to weaken or harm a country for the good of another. In no set- ting is the term more appropriate than in the realm of cybersecurity, where even the least- bad actor can do a world of hurt.
It is a given that in today’s computer- centric, mobile lifestyle, everybody—and we do mean everybody—stores and transfers personal (i.e., financial/banking documents, health records, contact information of fam- ily members, vacation photos, and more) or work-related (i.e., company budgets, market- ing plans, R&D documents, meeting min- utes, personnel files, etc.) data. We all store and transfer data. Many of us use USB drives to do so.
With capacities ranging from 256MB to 2TB, their tremendous portability and ex- ceptionally easy ability to be connected to various networks, USB drives have proven their value to literally millions of individuals, businesses, and government agencies. Most of these drives, however, are unencrypted, thus posing a major security risk. While they have revolutionized data storage and trans- port, their extreme portability has also intro- duced grave concerns.
They are very susceptible to being lost, breached, and misappropriated with the data on them then possibly shared with all of humanity. That leads to the possibility of critical, classified, sensitive data landing in the wrong hands, the hands of bad actors, if you will.
There is a very simple, cost-effective so- lution: an encrypted USB drive with strong password protection. Such drives are an essential pillar of a comprehensive data loss-prevention (DLP) strategy. If ever lost, stolen, or misplaced, the data cannot be ac- cessed. Sure, the drive is gone, but the drive’s user will have the peace of mind knowing whatever information was on there remains safe and sound, locked away, untouchable.
Speaking of Trustworthy
Encryption is the most trustworthy means of protecting confidential or sensitive data. Encrypted USB drives combine the mobility
advantages of using a USB while protect- ing the information on the drive. No mobile means is better at keeping confidential infor- mation confidential. Confidential informa- tion stays confidential.
Companies, such as Kingston Technology, have introduced a range of encrypted USB solutions. Encrypted USB drives are designed to protect the most sensitive data using the strictest security regulations and protocols and help transport data when it needs to move beyond an individual’s or company’s firewall securely and confidently.
Cost wise, encrypted USBs are not as ex- pensive as you might think. In the encrypted vs. non-encrypted argument, consider the costs and consequences of a data breach, lost drive etc., against the low purchase price of a non-encrypted drive. The margin- ally higher investment in an encrypted drive is well worth it as it minimizes any threat and provides peace of mind. Data lost due to using non-encryption drives can also lead to legal issues (HIPPA, GDPR, etc.) and consequences. Paying a little more up-front for encrypted drives will cost exponentially less than risking a potential data breach and possible fines.
Now, that you have been sold, hopefully, on the importance of using encrypted USB drives as opposed to unencrypted drives for storing or transporting vital data, there is an-
other important choice to make.
USB-drive encryption is performed
either through the device’s hardware or software. Hardware-based encrypted USB drives are self-contained, don’t require a software element on the host computer, and are the most effective in combating ever- evolving cyber threats. Hardware-encrypted USB drives protect against the possibility of brute-force, sniffing, and memory hash attacks due to their security being self-con- tained inside the drive.
On the other hand, software-based en- crypted drives share the computer’s resourc- es with other programs and are only as safe as the computer they are plugged into. The encryption is not done on the USB drive at all. A software program runs on the com- puter to encrypt data and then store it on the USB drive. To read it back, a software program must again be run on the computer to decrypt the data. Because of this comput- er-based encryption process, the USB drives themselves are vulnerable.
The Best Defense
A hardware-centric/software-free encryption approach to data security is the best defense against data loss, as it eliminates the most commonly used attack routes. This same software-free method also provides compre- hensive compatibility with most OS or em-
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JULY/AUGUST 2019 | SECURITY TODAY
CYBERSECURITY
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