Kanguru has partnered with Appspeed Distribution to increase the availability of Kanguru secure memory sticks in the United Kingdom.  Kanguru Defender Elite can now be purchased by both Private and Public Sector users at Probrand’s IT Index.

“An outbreak of data breaches in the UK has made encryption a high priority” commented Grahame Smee, Managing Director of AppSpeed Distribution. “Kanguru Solutions’ highly secure storage devices and remote management console help businesses and government agencies combat the increasing data breach problem.”

Defender Elite is in the final stages of FIPS 140-2 certification (Level 2). FIPS 140-2 is a US and Canadian security standard, which is also recommended by the UK Government Cabinet Office. Their new arrangements for data handling procedures (PDF) specify that

removable media should be encrypted to a standard of at least FIPS 140-2 or equivalent in addition to being protected by a authentication mechanism, such as a password

To add to the confusion, some vendors in the UK are advertising FIPS 197 validation. FIPS 197 only examines one component of the overall security system, and does not account for important considerations like authentication methods, random number generation, hashing and brute-force protections. FIPS 140-2 covers a much wider range of requirements and should be considered the minimum standard.

Data Security, Government, Portable Storage