BEWARE OF USB STICKS AND HARD DISK DRIVES

GFI LANGUARD PORTABLE STORAGE CONTROL (PSC) PROTECTS FROM UNAUTHORISED MOVEMENT OF DATA IN AND OUT OF CORPORATE NETWORKS THE DANGER FROM REMOVABLE STORAGE DEVICES IS REAL

December 8, 2004 – Abuja, Nigeria – Niche Konsult Limited wishes to alert all corporate organizations that the danger from removable storage (USB sticks, hard disks, etc) is real as is evidenced by the following advert which appeared in The Guardian of Tuesday, December 7, 2004 on page 47:

BIOMETRIC HARD DISKS AND FLASH MEMORY HARD DISK DRIVES (USB) 20GB & 40GB FLASH MEMORY (USB) 16MB 32MB 64MB 128MB 256MB 512MB 1GB 2GB PRICES (N22,000 – N186,000) Now you can store and move tons of information with absolute confidence that no one else but you can access or see it. Ultra-high integrity fingerprint-based-biometric access control cannot be forged and therefore guarantees that no one but you can access any information stored in these disks. Excellent for financial institutions, outsourced data movement, boardroom and top executive information, executive assistants, strategic information bearers/custodians, bankers, auditors, examiners, regulators, itinerant workers, businesses, government officials and individuals with competitor-sensitive information to secure with confidence. ACHIEVE ULTIMATE DATA CONFIDENTIALITY WITH BIOMETRIC DISKS NOW, WITH THE COMBINED SUPERIORITY OF THIS AMERICAN/CANADIAN TECHNOLOGY

The above named devices are extremely convenient, but they can also pose a big risk to company networks. You never know what else users may be doing with them: installing unauthorized or unlicensed software, uploading programs or documents that contain viruses or Trojans, or even downloading sensitive data such as trade secrets, internal memos or company financial information. Even if you make policies prohibiting them, users can easily sneak in the devices. They are small and many are disguised as keychain fobs, watches or concealed inside pens or other objects.

Administrators need to have a way to technologically control the use of portable storage devices, and that is what GFI LANguard Portable Storage Control is designed to do. Released August 24, 2004 by GFI Software Limited, a Microsoft Gold Certified partner, it confers administrators with network-wide control of removable media devices such as USB sticks, BIOMETRIC HARD DISKS AND FLASH MEMORY, etc.

In a July 2004 report, Technology analyst Gartner named removable media devices as a significant security risk in the workplace and advised that these can be used both to download confidential data, and also to introduce a virus into the company network.

The FBI/CSI in their 2003 Computer Crime and Security Survey fingered insider abuse of network access as an urgent security concern for 80% of companies.

For more information, please visit http://www.forensics-intl.com/art22.html,CRN, http://www.arcamax.com/cgi-bin/news/story/1017/11162/332261 and The Register

About GFI

GFI is a leading provider of network security, content security and messaging software. Key products include the GFI FAXmaker fax connector for Exchange and SMTP mail servers; GFI MailSecurity email content/exploit checking and anti-virus software; GFI MailEssentials server-based anti-spam software; GFI MailArchiver an email archiving solution; GFI LANguard Network Security Scanner (N.S.S.) security scanning and patch management software; GFI Network Server Monitor that automatically sends alerts, and corrects network and server issues; GFI LANguard Security Event Log Monitor (S.E.L.M.) that performs event log based intrusion detection and network-wide event log management; and GFI EndPointSecurity that enables network-wide control of removable media. Clients include Microsoft, Telstra, Time Warner Cable, NASA, DHL, Caterpillar, BMW, the US IRS, and the USAF. GFI has offices in the US, the UK, Germany, Cyprus, Romania, Australia and Malta, and operates through a worldwide network of distributors. GFI is a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner and has won the Microsoft Fusion (GEM) Packaged Application Partner of the Year award. For more information about GFI, visit http://www.gfi.com/.

About Niche Konsult

Niche Konsult is an information technology security firm with expertise in content, messaging, network and web application security. Niche Konsult provides software and solutions that help individuals, small and medium size businesses, large companies and governments optimize and secure their information technology infrastructure.

For more information, please visit http://www.nichekonsult.com. Contact/Enquiries about this news item, please contact Emem Akpan on 23495240555 or email info@nichekonsult.com.

All product and company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.

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