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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