Three Key Issues This Blog Addresses

IBM understands that the flash drive is dangerous. Bash-Drive Flash Gap Safe alternative (employee to use) Flash drive, fake wheels, pens, concert sticks, jumps, disk keys, memory sticks. No matter how you call it, the portable storage device has been common since 2000, but attempts to control, regulate, and ban it continue. But like the endless game of WHACK-A-MOLE, USB management reappears in the discussion of the company’s safety. And this is not a coincidence.

Not long ago, you could go to an exhibition, and perhaps one of these free USB flash drives, plastered by some brands, would be handed out. Small, transportable, and convenient, they became the standard for storing and transmitting data. However, the era of using a personal device to store data at work seems to be over. In particular, IBM has an insight related to data security. The huge multinational technology company recently banned all employees from using USB flash drives to exchange work-related data.

IBM’s Approach to Data Security

In this special case, we look at how a huge global organization is changing its approach, affecting 380,000 employees due to strengthened regulations. Information security officer IBM SHAMLA has stated that the company will expand data transfer practices to all possible portable storage devices (e.g., USB, SD cards, USB Flash drives). So, was the problem solved? Did everyone return to work thinking that now, with the ban in place, data security was finally ensured? Perhaps not so fast.

The Challenge of Data Leaks and Violations

In the regulatory industry, where employees and systems frequently handle confidential personal data, prohibiting thumb drives is common practice. However, there are still many data leaks and violations. So what is the solution if the ban doesn’t work? The answer leads us back to safety. Now, it’s not necessary to completely discard these devices—they are still useful. After all, this convenient device continues to serve legal personal purposes.

On the other hand, large and small organizations no longer consider these devices acceptable for use in work-related contexts where storage, exchange, or handling of confidential data is required. There are two reasons for this USB defense:

Easy to use but can be lost: The reason why USB flash drives are so convenient—small, portable, and easy to transfer data from one device to another—is also why they are not safe. For confidential or personal data, these devices add unnecessary risks to businesses.

Lack of encryption: In addition to the fact that large thumb drives can be inappropriate, portable devices come with other security vulnerabilities. Encrypting data requires users to perform additional steps, but many don’t bother. Without encryption, malicious infections can hijack devices by reprogramming or rebuilding their firmware to steal data.

Risks of USB Devices and Data Leaks

So, if you find any USB memory around you next time, think twice before inserting it into your personal or company devices. Surprisingly, many industries, particularly those dealing with medical care, still face data violations due to simple mistakes like losing personal devices, including thumb drives.

For example, in recent years, hospitals in Massachusetts, Ohio, and South Carolina have lost USB flash drives containing sensitive information like patient names, social security numbers, home addresses, laboratory test codes, and slide identification numbers. In some cases, these data breaches have resulted in HIPAA sanctions. Alaska’s mental health institutions were fined $150,000 for failing to take appropriate measures to secure patient data. In another case, lost data in the Boston school system affected over 21,000 students, exposing their names, ages, identification numbers, and even photos. The cause of these breaches was simply the loss of memory sticks between school officials and districts.

The Impact of Data Violations

What is the nightmare for BPS? The victims of data violations have been tracked as a simple case of lost memory sticks among school officials. So, what are the actual solutions for gaps in flash drive safety?

Addressing USB Flash Drives Safety Issues

To solve business safety issues caused by USB flash drives, let’s first look at the people behind the problem. The examples from the medical and education sectors share a common theme. In both cases, the safety issues weren’t caused by malicious actors. There was no hint of intentional espionage. No one loses a pharmaceutical drive behind a taxi or forgets an SSD at a bar. As for encryption, some people are simply lazy or unaware of this crucial security measure. The simple fact is that these devices have been banned in many industries, and this may have played a significant role in IBM’s decision.

Alternatives to Portable Storage Devices

If organizations are looking for ways to reduce the risk of storing, co-using, or transmitting confidential data through personal devices, they don’t have to worry. It’s 2022, and there are many alternatives to portable storage devices that are just as easy to use.

Best Alternatives to Portable Storage Devices

The three best solutions are: using a USB flash drives, SD card, external hard drive, or other portable storage. Common access to cloud files: Why is it still the most important for people to use a portable storage device? Simplicity of use? The same is true for cloud services for consumer file exchange. If you can talk about the service that stores a consumer-level cloud file, people can exchange almost all sizes or types of files. As a tool for business, applying a general distribution of a file is a practical alternative that can easily tie the device. Some of the advantages include possibilities:

• Access to files from multiple devices
• Safely backing up files and folders
• Data blocking if the device is lost or stolen
• Restoration of removed or wrongly stored files
• Changing storage places

The Limitations of Cloud File Exchange

Nevertheless, the cloud file exchange service cannot be maintained in an unresolved state. According to a study by Ponemon and Metalogix in 2017, which surveyed about 1,400 users: 49% of respondents had been in a data exchange situation for the past two years. 79% of respondents use existing tools for file collaboration, and 68% say there is a lack of visibility regarding where confidential data is stored.

Challenges with Document Collaboration Tools

Cooperation tools: The team’s personal cooperation is not always possible. Unusual team members do not work remotely in other countries unless they are the world. And the document collaboration tool can work simultaneously, allowing it to be edited by looking at the document on a common platform without relying on the continuous exchange of email. However, like the cloud file exchange tool, the advantages must be contextualized by danger.

In one hour of 2017, complex and malicious phishing attacks targeted popular solutions, such as Google Docs, a work document tool. Google was able to quickly address and report those influenced by the attacks, but at least a million user accounts and contact lists were compromised.

Corporate File Exchange Solutions

Corporate file exchange: All types and scales of companies, including business-to-business (B2B), disposable (P2B), business peer (B2P), single grade (P2P), business-to-consumer (B2C), and business commerce (C2B), and complex modern ecosystems, need to manage file types and sizes with customers and partners. You can easily control the data when integrating it with applications and corporate solutions. It must also be provided:

• Distribution of weeks/individual clouds or regions
• Control over the location where the data is stored
• Management tools to ensure visibility, control, and audit between internal and external data exchanges
• Safe exchange of files without reconstruction of firewalls
• File transmission footprints transmission audit
• Folder resolution with extended access and management

Expansion that satisfies all business needs. Perhaps there will be no protection methods to completely prevent violations, compromises, or even data leaks. But in our time, in the age of digital technology, there is a more reasonable way to secure and process sensitive data. Depending on portable storage devices for convenience and accessibility is not just one of these methods.

Conclusion: Mitigating Risks with Better Data Exchange Solutions

Prohibit drivers of thumb drives, pens, concert sticks, jumps, disk keys, flash drives, and memory sticks at work. To effectively mitigate the risk of USB storage, the organization must reasonably combine its own rules with executable and excellent alternatives for data exchange. File exchange solutions at the company level not only bridge this security gap but also provide more universal solutions to employees, offering wider options for collaboration and increasing efficiency.

Frequently asked questions about IBM ban on USB flash drives and data security

Why did IBM ban USB -Flash -Disk?

IBM has banned USB flash drives in a framework of wider data security strategies. Thanks to the small size and tolerance, the flash drive can lead to a violation of data because the flash drive is applied with loss, theft or infected malicious software.

What is the risk of using USB -Flash -Disks?

USB flash drives are easy to lose and lack encryption, so they are vulnerable to unauthorized access. Without encryption, the confidential data of such a device can be exposed to harmful participants, leading to potential theft or data loss.

How does IBM provide data safety without USB -Flash -Disks?

IBM has implemented a wider data transfer policy that prohibits the use of all portable storage devices, including USB, SD cards and USB flash drives. Now they depend on safer alternatives, such as corporate solutions for cloud file exchange and file exchange.

What is the alternative to the USB -Flash drive for storing and transmitting data?

The best alternatives include storage services of cloud files, safe corporate solutions and encryption support tools for file exchange. This method provides safer data, storage and transmission while reducing the risk of data leakage.

What is the role of encryption in data safety?

Encryption allows confidential data to be protected from unauthorized access. Even if you lose or stolen your device when you encrypt, you will be safe and unacceptable without decryption.