SecureData, a member of the JSE-listed ERP.com Group, and the southern African distributor for Centennial Discovery, a leading network auditing and asset management specialist, today announced the release by the latter of some research that shows that over one half (51%) of UK businesses have no controls in place to manage workplace use of removable media devices.
This is despite the fact that such devices can easily transfer viruses or other malicious code onto the company's network, or that they can be used to steal sensitive corporate data.
The DeviceWall 2005 Security Attitudes survey polled 259 IT executives, and was commissioned by asset discovery and audit specialist, Centennial Software. Some 89% of those questioned said they connected a device - predominantly a USB stick or PDA - to the company network at least once a week. Almost two-thirds (62%) use these devices on a daily basis.
Over two-thirds of companies (70%) claimed to have invested time and effort into an acceptable use policy (AUP) that would typically dictate which devices could be used, what for, where, when and by whom.
But as Matt Fisher, vice-president of Centennial Software, pointed out: "With almost 90% of employees using removable devices on a weekly basis, either very few AUPs contain rules on usage of such devices, or the regulations being laid down by the organisation are largely being disregarded by employees."
When questioned about any physical controls that were in place to manage the use of removable media devices, just over 50% had nothing in place at all.
* 25% said use was at the manager's discretion
* 12% used a software tool to control their use
* 7% had imposed a company-wide ban on use
The devices most commonly connected to the network included USB memory sticks (used by 78%), PDAs (43%), digital cameras (31%) and mobile phones (29%), and iPods and MP3 players (15%).
"The frequency of their use, and the prevalence of the devices, should be ringing some serious alarm bells among UK businesses," continued Fisher. "What may look like a 20GB portable music player could very easily contain your entire customer database.
"The situation isn't black and white enough for a blanket ban on devices like this to be effective," concluded Fisher. "Certain employees have a legitimate need to use a PDA or USB stick at work, but the organisation needs to be in control of which staff are able to connect which types of devices to the network."
It's for that reason that Centennial Software advocates the use of technology that supports the automatic implementation and enforcement of a removable media use policy that reflects the needs of individual employees. This offers a much more effective solution than having to rely on manager intervention, or just putting regulations into an employee handbook that either doesn't get read, is unenforceable, or is simply filed and forgotten.
Centennial Software's DeviceWall product actively manages a wide range of portable media (including iPods, USB sticks, PDAs and smartphones), preventing the transfer of information between corporate PCs and unauthorised devices. It is designed to help organisations manage the threats associated with removable media devices.
For further information, please contact Bianca Maritz at telephone (011) 257 8600; fax (011) 257 8699; e-mail biancam@securedata.co.za.
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Centennial is a leading supplier of technology inventory management solutions to major organisations around the world, helping to reduce total cost of ownership. Centennial has been providing award-winning products for over five years and has a proven track record for providing leading-edge solutions.
Based in Swindon, England, the company was formed in 1997 by a team of highly skilled software engineers with many years experience in developing operating systems and network applications. Working together initially at Digital Research, the team were responsible for the award-winning DR-DOS operating system, and following the acquisition by Novell, developed components of the industry standard Novell NetWare product.
SecureData
SecureData, an ERP.com company, is Africa's premier IT security solution provider. SecureData's solutions incorporate anti-virus and content security, network security, intrusion prevention software and network asset management. SecureData's comprehensive "Managed Security Services" include design, audit, implementation, vulnerability assessment, outsourcing and hosting.
SecureData distributes, sells and supports category leading IT security products to the public, corporate and SME sectors throughout Africa as well as products and services to the SOHO and consumer markets through partnerships with ISPs. As well as being the sole distributor in Sub-Saharan Africa for Trend Micro, SecureData is the African distributor for US-based TippingPoint Technologies and the southern African distributor for US-based Application Security, eEye, Rocket Software, RSA Security, St Bernard and Websense; and UK-based Centennial. For more information, visit SecureData at www.securedata.co.za.
ERP.com
ERP.com is a JSE-listed company focused on the implementation, integration and management of enterprise applications in an e-business environment. For more information, visit ERP.com at www.erpcom.co.za.
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