Re: Encrypted Thumbdrives

[Gary Flynn <flynngn () JMU EDU>]

Bombard, Charles L wrote:
> Have you looked at a particular product? Have one you really like?
>
> I am wondering what other people have found in looking at USB 
> thumbdrives that have built in encryption and/or have utilized software 
> based encryption such as truecrypt that can be included on the drives 
> un-encrypted area.

We're just starting to look at this area. Given the wide range
of hardware and the constantly changing technology, TrueCrypt
is very attractive though operator education is a challenge.

Another area of concern is untrusted hosts. There is a lot of
malware out there that understands USB drives and that will
spread to them if a write protect switch is not available.
We saw a sample that copied the contents of a USB drive
to one large file on the infected host and subsequently tried
to communicate with systems in China. Encrypting the data at
rest will protect against what is probably the most common
threat, loss of the media, but doesn't protect the data if the
device is plugged into a hostile host.

There has to be a very good reason that sensitive data is
placed on portable media and user education about safe
usage of the portable media is at least as important as
technology.


> I am currently demo’ing a SafeStick Business edition thumbdrive.
>
> I will be looking at a truecrypt solution too.
>
>  
>
> I thought there had been a discussion about this a while back but I 
> could not find it in the archives.
>
>  
>
> Any thoughts/suggestions are appreciated.
>
>  
>
> -Charlie
>
>  
>
> ==========================================
>
>  
>
> Charles Bombard, GSEC
>
> LAN/Systems Administrator
>
> Community College of Vermont
>
> 119 Pearl Street
>
> Burlington, VT 05401
>
> 802.657.4234
>
> bombardc () ccv edu <mailto:bombardc () ccv edu>
>
>  
>
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>  


--
Gary Flynn
Security Engineer
James Madison University
www.jmu.edu/computing/security

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