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Monday 30 March 2009

USB Keys and security

The use of USB keys/sticks/drives has taken off with great enthusiasm. Thankfully, the use of floppy disks to transfer data has become more or less obsolete. However, most people are surprised to discover that their USB devices may be infected. This device is no different than the floppy disks of old. Furthermore, due to their small size, they are easily lost, misplaced or stolen. All the data is usually freely available for any person to access. For a start, run a rigorous antivirus scan on all your USB keys. Then start looking into password protecting them and finally encrypt the keys. I personally prefer AXcrypt for encrypting single files, mainly because it has the capability of encrypting a file and simultaneously creating an executable decryption file that requires a phrase to decrypt it. So if you are transferring a file to another person send the actual file and the phrase in two differentways at different times. The self decyption executeable has the added benefit that the recipient does not require the AXcrypt software installed on their computer. One word of warning though, Axcrypt does not have a backdoor ... AT ALL. If you encrypted a file, delete the original file and then forget the phrase ... you will never be able to get the data back.

To encrypt an entire drive/volume/usb key or the like, I prefer to use Truecrypt. This works well, should perhaps be used on all home systems that have any personal data on them. DO NOT encrypt your entire C DRIVE. The best solution for portable secure storage is to purchase USB keys with builtin encryption. I recommend that you seriously start investing in keys with encryption. It really is worth it. For daily use I use the Integral 1GB AT key with 256BIT AES Encryption. For something more robust I recommend using an Iron Key.

Common Sense and Caution must always be exercised.

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