Another reason why file transfer via a USB stick is not a good idea

The use of USB sticks for transferring files and data is becoming of increasing concern as a potential source for a data breach.

The news this week that the encryption code was cracked on a number of NIST certified USB flash drives, provides the latest ammunition on why transferring files on a flash drive is not a good idea.  As reported in the ZDnet article - the weakness in the encryption scheme was unbelievably “bone-headed”, their words, and involved an authentication scheme with a huge flaw that was common across a number of manufacturers.

The practice of carrying around sensitive information on a USB stick should already have been raising security concerns within an organization.  It now seems with this latest news that even using encryption on a USB flash drive may not provide the necessary protection for sensitive, confidential information. 

From our perspective, file transfer of sensitive information via a USB stick is never a good idea.

This entry was posted on Friday, January 8th, 2010 at 12:43 am and is filed under Data Breach. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

3 Responses to “Another reason why file transfer via a USB stick is not a good idea”

  1. Tweets that mention Another reason why file transfer via a USB stick is not a good idea | Accellion Blog -- Topsy.com says:
    January 8, 2010 at 11:40 pm

    [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Michael Osterman and Accellion, Accellion. Accellion said: Blog: Another reason why file transfer via a USB stick is not a good idea http://bit.ly/4xMzZ7 [...]

  2. New HIPAA Regulations Go Into Effect – Accellion to the Rescue | Accellion Managed File Transfer Blog says:
    February 18, 2010 at 8:06 pm

    [...] Accellion eliminates the use of unsecure USB sticks for sharing medical [...]

  3. Top 3 File Transfer Security Mistakes | Accellion Managed File Transfer Blog says:
    March 9, 2010 at 6:39 pm

    [...] and GLBA.  Files containing confidential information need to be protected to avoid data breaches. USB sticks and CDs, can easily be misplaced or lost in transit as the UK Government discovered in 2009 when disks containing personal information on 25 million UK [...]

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