I have a few of those key drives and they’re really good for storing data and other media on the fly. How secure are these devices? What if I lost a drive? Is there any was to protect my information?
–R. Douglas, Via the Internet
Good question. It seems that after all these years of saying floppy disk drives were passé, it might finally come to pass. USB flash drives and their ilk are proving to be a perfect way to pack a ton of information into a small, convenient form factor. Some of these devices, such as Iomega’s Micro Mini, have been reviewed in Techwatch. Flash drives are fast and usually come with software on the drive itself to let you easily transfer information.
But as with anything, ease of use has its drawbacks, namely security. For starters, if you are concerned about employees simply dragging and dropping valuable company secrets or sensitive information, you might reconsider a companywide rollout of flash drives. Most flash drives let you easily password-protect your documents. Crucial Technology’s Gizmo! and Lexar’s JumpDrive, for example, are two such products. It’s important to check out how each manufacturer handles password protection. Some let you reset easily while others may require you to send the device to the manufacturer to reset it. Finally, as with other password-protected software and hardware, be sure to keep your information in a safe place.