OHIO – News Talk Radio Whio.com reports that the Montgomery County Department of Job and Family Services has lost a flash drive containing the personal information of 1,200 people.  The drive contained the names and social security numbers of people serviced at the Transition Center on Dryden Road in Moraine between 2005 and 2010.

It is not indicated whether the thumb drive, missing since August, was encrypted or not.   The county, however, is offering one year of free identity protection for those whose information might have been compromised.

For the full story, click here.

Data Security

Kanguru has added OpenSUSE compatibility to the list of operating systems supported by the Kanguru Defender Elite line of secure, encrypted USB thumb drives.

OpenSUSE, a derivative of Linux, is a free open source operating system used and supported by the worldwide Free and Open Source Software community.

The Kanguru Defender Elite is the only enterprise level hardware encrypted flash drive that has Graphical User Interface (GUI) support for Windows, Macintosh and Linux Operating Systems, including the OpenSUSE distribution.

To read the full press release, click here.

Data Security

Every organization has different security needs.  What works for one, may not work for another.

Size, budget, personnel, and structure all play a factor in determining what an organization can and will do in terms of IT security.  As such, there generally is no “one size fits all” solution when it comes to Infosec.

With this in mind, Kanguru has developed a customization program to help tailor our encrypted flash drives to an organization’s needs; from individuals and small business to enterprise and government entities.

In addition to 256-bit AES hardware encryption and onboard anti-virus, some of the customizable options we offer include: Read more…

Data Security

A recent article posted in Information Week details some interesting trends related to USB Flash Drive usage and security.  According to the story “In the past two years, 70% of businesses have traced the loss of sensitive or confidential information to USB flash memory sticks”

Flash drives are incredibly useful; however, as the Information Week article shows, their tiny size and massive storage capacity make them a security threat as well.  Although encryption seems like it would be a requirement for organizations dealing with sensitive data, it seems that more often than not, flash drives aren’t encrypted.

With that in mind, here is a list of recent flash drive security snafu’s: Read more…

Uncategorized

InformationWeek highlights a new study showing that malware on USB sticks is wreaking havoc on information security.  The new survey by the Ponemon Institute found:

In the past two years, 70% of businesses have traced the loss of sensitive or confidential information to USB flash memory sticks. While such losses can obviously occur when the devices get lost or stolen, 55% of those incidents are likely related to malware-infected devices that introduced malicious code onto corporate networks.

Most of the respondents do not have any form of endpoint security in place, or don’t enforce their own USB security policies.  Cost may be an important factor as “75% of respondents said they wouldn’t pay a premium to ensure that USB drives are safe and secure.”

Setting aside the fact that this is short-sighted given the cost of a data breach, you don’t need to break the bank to secure your USB drives.  The Kanguru Defender Basic features automatically enforced military-grade encryption, plus an onboard anti-virus scanner to prevent malicious code from entering your network.  Best of all, it’s available at a mainstream price.

Data Security

In a July 15 memo to all Federal Agencies, OMB Director Jack Lew sent a reminder that Telework solutions must comply with security guidelines and protect sensitive government information.  Federal Computer Week highlights a few of the requirements, including data security and  protection from systems that are not under direct agency control.

The Telework initiative is meant to improve worker productivity, while reducing government overhead and costs.  It also adds business continuity in the event of an emergency or other event when employees can not reach the office.  The downside is that Administrators lose some control over the hardware and software being used by their workers.  Fears about security have resulted in slower than expected implementation of Telework policies.

To meet these security requirements, Kanguru and Absolute ID have designed the RocIT Defender Elite “Virtual System on a Stick” to enable Telework while still maintaining control over hardware and software.  The device is a bootable, encrypted USB flash drive that launches a secure virtual OS completely isolated from the host system.  The Administrator can lock down the OS and application settings with a golden image, and monitor the devices remotely using Kanguru Remote Management Console.  All data is hardware encrypted with FIPS 140-2 certified cryptography.  Contact Kanguru for more info on how RocIT Defender Elite can meet your Telework challenges.

Data Security, Government

DaveM at Advantage Computers Blog shows just how easy it is to set up a Kanguru Defender Elite secure memory stick.  Steps include choosing an initial password and enabling the onboard antivirus or remote management options.

Residents of the UK can contact Advantage for more information on the Defender Elite and Defender V2 secure memory sticks.

Portable Storage

Kanguru is pleased to announce that the Defender Elite encrypted USB flash drive is now undergoing evaluation for Common Criteria EAL2+.

Common Criteria is an internationally recognized security evaluation program developed to ensure an information technology product or service meets a variety of robust government security standards. There are currently 36 nations, worldwide, which mutually recognize the merits of the Common Criteria Standard.  Kanguru’s evaluation is being overseen by the German Federal Office for Information Security (Bundesamt fur Sicherheit in der Informationstechnik (BSI)).

“By undergoing the Common Criteria evaluation, we continue to position ourselves on top of the secure portable data storage industry.” said Don Brown, CEO of Kanguru. “Common Criteria, along with our fully manageable devices and current FIPS 140-2 Validations, distinguishes our products and services as the most secure, manageable and feature rich in the portable data storage industry.”

Read more.

Data Security, Portable Storage

Written by: Emmett Jorgensen

Ten years ago the miniature USB thumb drive crashed onto the scene, revolutionizing the portable storage industry.  Although expensive at the time of its initial release, it quickly came down in price and went up in storage capacity, providing massive amounts of storage in a tiny form factor.

Today, the revered little flash drive is making waves again, but this time as the newest advancement in secure, portable computing.  A few innovative companies have developed a way to transform the flash drive from a simple storage device into a portable virtual machine manager, allowing users to store a completely bootable operating system, applications and data on a high capacity flash drive.

Using a Bare-Metal-Boot Mode, these devices never have to touch the internal hard drive of the host machine. Read more…

Data Security, Portable Storage

USB Flash drives: Petite, portable storage devices capable of storing gigabytes of data.  They’ve revolutionized the business world with their convenience and portability; however, there is a darker side to the revered little flash drive.

Their tiny size often makes them easy to lose and their storage capacity allows huge amounts of potentially sensitive data to be stored on them. If lost or stolen a single, tiny, insecure flash drive has the potential to cause a massive data breach.

As state, federal and business regulations tighten on information security and impose fines and sanctions for data breaches, the question arises:  Should flash drives be banned from work environments, as the Department of Defense did in the fall of 2008[i]?  Or can they be used in a safe manner without limiting the very attributes that make them so popular?

The answer to this will vary greatly depending on your organizational policies and security standards; however, there are options for using flash drives securely.

A good starting point is encrypted flash drives.  While encryption is important, there are many more factors to take into consideration in the overall security of flash drives.

In order to cover some of the new security developments surrounding flash drives and to figure out the best solutions for your needs I’ve come up with 11 basic questions to ask when buying a secure flash drive.

Question #1: What is the overall level of security and has it been certified by an independent, accredited entity?

Why it is important: Generally, the higher the encryption level (128-bit, 256-bit), the more difficult it is for a hacker to break.  However, it is also very important that the device be tested for other relevant factors such as encryption tunnels, a true random number generator, physical security features, hashing, and the security of the device’s firmware. Read more…

Data Security, Financial, Government, Healthcare, Malware