Secure your humble USB sticks

This article first appeared on September 15th, 2011.

When you think computer security, you invariably think of protecting your website from some cyber terrorist working from an internet cafe in Prague.

But the big IT security issues I have encountered at Taskmaster Enterprises have always been much less exciting than this.

There was the manager who left their laptop on a train in Chicago with two weeks’ worth of tenders on it.

There was that sales guy who lost their phone at the airport – and lost their entire contact list in the process.

And now a senior executive from security company Sophos has pointed to another simple problem – the USB stick.

Now, plenty of my staff take work home with a USB stick and bring it back the next morning. The problem is, you can never really know what sort of nasties they might bring in on that stick.

If the USB gets shared between a few computers, you could have a big virus problem on your hands.

SophosLabs vice president Mark Harris says the key is to be very specific about the USB sticks that employees can use and ensure they are encrypted for security and safety reasons.

That way, if they get lost at least no one can steal all your important information.

Get it done – today!