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Leading USB security

Kingston Technology has announced the results of a study conducted by the Ponemon Institute in 10 European countries to gain insight into how organisations manage the security and privacy requirements of data collected and retained on USB drives. The study confirms that many organisations are ignoring the risk of unencrypted USB drives and are not following through with appropriate USB security policies. The research also denotes marked differences between participating countries in their approach and implementation of USB drive security.

The European study, an extension of an earlier study conducted in the United States, confirms the pressing need for organisations to adopt more secure USB products and policies. A total of 2942 IT practitioners with an average of 10,75 years of IT or IT security experience in Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Poland and the United Kingdom were surveyed and all acknowledged the importance of USB drives from a productivity standpoint.

Across Europe, 71% of respondents confirmed that their companies do not have the technologies to prevent or quickly detect the download of confidential data onto USB drives by unauthorised individuals. The statistic shows most organisations are disregarding the risks of using unencrypted USB drives, resulting in most companies – 62% of those questioned – having suffered a loss of confidential or sensitive data because of missing USB drives in the last two years.

When comparing individual European countries, perceptions and practices about the importance of USB security is highest in Germany – with 62% agreeing that their organisation has an adequate USB security policy in place to prevent employee misuse.

Evidence of compromise

* 75% of respondents say employees in their companies are using USB drives without obtaining advance permission.

* A staggering 63% of respondents confirmed employees lose USB drives without notifying appropriate authorities all the time or very frequently.

* France, UK and Poland have the highest rate of data breach as a result of missing USB drives.

Said Jim Selby, European product marketing manager at Kingston Technology, ”Organisations fear that any attempt to control a device like a USB is likely to be futile and costly, both in terms of budget and loss of productivity. However, a simple analysis of what a company needs and the knowledge that there is a range of easy-to-use, cost-effective, secure USB Flash drive solutions can go a long way toward enabling organisations and their employees to get a handle on the issue.”

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