Nate Cote, VP of Product Management, chats with BankInfoSecurity.com at RSA Conference 2009.  Nate discusses how Kanguru’s encryption and management solutions fit into the broader security and compliance architecture.

Direct link to audio.

Data Security, Events, Financial

From the SC data breach blog:  “A portable data-storage device containing the sensitive personal information for all current employees of North Carolina-based FairPoint Communications has gone missing.”

The device contained everything needed for identity theft including birth dates and social security numbers.

A comprehensive remote management solution would have allowed the company to remotely delete all contents of the device before it could be accessed.  Regulatory authorities could be presented with an audit log showing when and where the drive was deleted.  The alternative is to pay for credit monitoring, risk lawsuits and receive an entry in the infamous Data Breach Blog.

Data Backup, Data Security

On Friday, the Dept of Health and Human Services released new details on breach notification and the protection of personal health information.

There are two acceptable methods: encryption and destruction.

Encryption is the obvious method provided for securing ePHI, and the acceptable encryption methods were expectedly referencing NIST standards.

Using encryption may help organizations prevent public embarrassment and costly settlements. 

Breach notifications only need to be made for what falls under “unsecured” PHI. So, if someone gets hold of PHI that is encrypted using the referenced NIST encryption standards, then notification is not required.

Data Security, Government, Healthcare

The Kanguru Bio AES encrypted USB Flash Drive has completed FIPS 140-2 certification.  FIPS 140-2 is a comprehensive 3rd-party testing process that certifies the encryption module for use in US and Canadian Government applications.  The standard is also seen as stamp-of-approval by other Government and Corporate security professionals.

Kanguru Bio AES features a built-in fingerprint sensor for 2-factor authentication (bio and password).  Kanguru will offer a FIPS 140-2 version of the drive to both Government and Commercial users.  The FIPS certificate and security document are posted by NIST here.

Data Security, Government

Kanguru will be exhibiting at the annual RSA Conference in San Francisco, April 20-23.  Visit us at Booth 2659 to learn more about our secure USB Flash Drives and Remote Management Console providing:

• 100% AES-Hardware encryption
• Ability to remotely delete/disable drives that are lost or stolen
• Remote management and enforcement of passwords and security policies
• Audit logs to show compliance with regulations like HIPAA, SOX, FISMA and GLBA

Attendees at RSA Conference will be dealing with budget pressures this year, but security is not an area where companies can afford to compromise.

“Given the increased threats and pressures on security, a flat budget with increased threats equals a cut budget.”

Data Security, Events

PC Magazine has given the Kanguru e-Flash four stars in a recent review.

It excelled even more with eSATA, with a 26.4-MBps write speed—an 86 percent boost in average write speed over USB 2.0. Read speeds jumped 27 percent to 32 MBps over eSATA.

View the speed test results here.

For a round-up of e-Flash reviews, see our previous post.  Last year, Kanguru Defender was reviewed with an early version of Kanguru Remote Management Console at Tom’s Hardware.

UPDATE (4/14/09):  Government Computer News has also published a review of the Kanguru e-Flash.

Scorecard:

 It looks ordinary at first but use it to transfer a gigabyte or two of data and you’ll realize that it almost has super powers.

Data Backup, Government

The popular Kanguru DVD Duplicator received an overhaul this winter, and now features faster speeds and additional functionality.  See full announcement.

Kanguru DVD Duplicators

Duplication

Kanguru has officially launched a new RAID device called the Kanguru QSX.  The QSX is available now at kanguru.com or contact your account rep at any of our partners.

Data Backup

Government entities are leading the way in data breaches so far this year.

According to ITRC, a nonprofit organization whose work is supported by a Justice Department grant, the government and military sector were the chief offenders, accounting for 78 percent of all exposed records with just 22 breaches.

To be fair, the bulk of those records were lost in a single incident at the Arkansas Dept of Information Services.  Among other sectors, banking and financial companies did the least amount of damage, with 12 breaches and 288 records exposed.

Data Security, Financial, Government, Healthcare

Super-gluing your USB ports is not the best solution in the long run.  USB Flash Drives are so popular for a reason - they are extremely useful and increase the productivity of your employees.  You can have both convenience and security by taking the right steps to secure your USB ports:

1. Select company-approved flash drives - This drive should implement hardware-level encryption that forces the user to encrypt all data.
2. Block all other USB devices - There are number of ways to enforce this through MS Group Policies or Endpoint security applications.
3. Remotely manage your flash drives - Remote management provides control over your devices even after they leave your network.  Disable and delete lost/stolen drives and provide regulators with the audit log that shows where, when and how.

Learn more about Kanguru’s remote management here.

Data Security