All Encryption related articles
How many of us have not at one time or another misplaced a USB drive? Or maybe forgotten it plugged into a computer after a presentation? It is after all just a small device and in the continued rush of our everyday lives, it is easy to overlook such details. What happens however when it’s a company USB thumb drive? And what if it just happens to have the security details of one of the world’s biggest airport hubs on it? That is how the nightmares of the 21st century begin.
A USB drive containing highly sensitive data pertaining to London’s International Heathrow Airport, was recently found plugged into a public library computer. The data on it, amounting to 2.5 GB of information, included maps with the location of every CCTV camera in the airport, routes and security protection measures for the Queen, Cabinet ministers and visiting foreign dignitaries. The files were all unencrypted. …
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The Australian government is the latest to reveal it’s working on new laws that will require companies to be able to unscramble encrypted communications. Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull came under fire for telling reporters pointing out the mathematical impossibility of breaking into end-to-end encryption: “The laws of mathematics are very commendable, but the only law that applies in Australia is the law of Australia.”
The UK government’s Investigatory Powers Bill, more commonly referred to as the Snooper’s Charter, raised similar concerns in Europe last year over politicians’ understanding of encryption and the dangers of banning it or asking companies to include backdoors into their encryption solutions. There is also the problem of end-to-end encryption used in popular messaging applications like WhatsApp and Apple’s iMessage…
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Not long ago we released the revamped USB Enforced Encryption from Endpoint Protector 4 DLP which has been implemented successfully by many of our customers. We received great feedback, so we want to share more details about this solution with you.
What is Enforced Encryption?For some time now, Enforced Encryption has become a best practice for security in case of USB devices, e-mail, internal HDDs, communications protocols, etc. Currently, we provide Enforced Encryption for USB devices allowing organizations to remotely deploy EasyLock, USB encryption software through Endpoint Protector 4 and thus forcing users to use only encrypted devices while transferring data. Instead of denying access to these devices, which would be unpractical, with the USB Enforced Encryption you protect data in case USB drives are lost or stolen.
Enforced Encryption is used for two strong reasons:…
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With each product update, we strive to make IT administrators’ experience better and to enhance data security features, with the final scope to prevent data losses and data thefts in organizations. Today I would like to drill down into the refined cross-platform Enforced Encryption module (available for Windows and Mac OS X), the most recent release for Endpoint Protector 4, our DLP and MDM solution.
We call Enforced Encryption…The capability of automatically encrypting data on USB storage devices and authorizing the use of only encrypted USB devices. We do this with the correlation between Endpoint Protector 4 Data Loss Prevention product and the EasyLock, password-protected USB encryption software. Referring strictly to the DLP tool, it monitors two main channels as exit points for sensitive data: portable storage devices and online applications and services. Besides…
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Recently, I’ve had the pleasure to meet the creator of Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) and pioneer in cryptography, Phil Zimmermann. For all data security experts and vendors, he is an inspiration, especially because his e-mail encryption software became the most widely used in the world, even though he was persecuted by the government, he didn’t have any investors or at least paid staff. It is proof that great products do not need millions of dollars for marketing or large sales teams.
Me and Phil Zimmermann
It is interesting how data security evolved since 1991 and how dynamic the industry is today. With new technologies that have emerged, and reinterpretation of the old ones, our choices have become more difficult. E-mail encryption is still widely being used successfully. Unfortunately, not only e-mails have to be encrypted to secure data and prevent data breaches. There is a variety…
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