Is SafeConsole the ‘Noah’s Ark’ of USB management and security?

Not to get overly Biblical on you, but – as someone leading a company on the forefront of USB management and security – I keep thinking of that story we all learned growing up about Noah and the ark. Noah keeps telling folks, “Hey, I’m serious, guys, it’s really going to start raining soon,” and he’s met, time and time again, with blank stares and indifferent glances from seemingly unworried parties…He feels raindrops on his arm, one morning, and shouts at the people, “Oh, it’s raining, right now! Come on! Come get on the ark!” But folks are too preoccupied to stop and process what he’s shouting…

Well, I’m not Noah, and I’m never going to build an ark, or shout from the moutanintop…and I’m never going to twist your arm until you understand the critical value proposition of our SafeConsole USB management application (and I’m not going to chide you for walking past, unconcerned – that’s your prerogative)…

But, considering the sheer number of data breaches that occur every day as a result of a lost or stolen USB flash drive, I sure do feel like Noah sometimes – even considering the fact that more people are coming to us every day to experience the safety and security (heck, overall USB Dominion) that our SafeConsole management system provides.

That’s because I cringe a little bit every time I read about a preventable data breach resulting from a missing or lost USB flash drive…and the most recent circumstance proves no different…

The disappearance of a USB flash drive from New Brunswick, Canada’s Saint John Regional Hospital was confirmed last week; the missing drive contained the information (including Medicare numbers) of about 1,500 patients of a SJRH pediatric endocrinologist, and its loss resulted in quite a substantial headache for the chief privacy officer for Horizon Health, who tried her best to use some fancy footwork in responding to the situation:

“We don’t have the sense that it was stolen.”

“They think it has been accidentally misplaced.” (Nice distancing, with the use of ‘they.’)

“That’s being developed.” (In response to the urgent need for updated information handling practices and policies.)

It goes without saying (and this is often the standard organizational response) that the incident has led to a reported review of Horizon Health’s patient-information handling practices. And while we certainly appreciate the difficulty of such a situation and the toll it takes on an institution in so many different ways, it is sometimes difficult to hold back these feelings of wanting to say ‘we told you so’ –  but…trying…to…hold our feelings…back…

WE TOLD YOU IT WAS GONNA RAIN!!!!!!

The fact is that, right now, there is a tremendous failing on the part of companies and institutions, the world over, pertaining to the use of USB flash drives as a productivity tool. Flash drives can indeed serve as a convenient method of data storage and transfer – but they represent a significant issue in that they can be easily lost, stolen or otherwise compromised and/or misused (as in the above case of SJRH, which was using non-secured flash drives as a chief data backup component).

Our SafeConsole USB management application, not unlike Noah’s Ark, can give you comprehensive shelter from the storm. SafeConsole gives your granular control of every SafeConsoleReady device within your network – meaning that you’ll never be at the mercy of the unknown. You will know where your network flash drives are, at all times, and in the event of a loss SafeConsole provides such options as remote kill and remote password reset to ensure that sensitive data does not end up in the wrong hands (even if the flash drive does).

Small business owners, federal contractors, hospital administrators, Technology/Privacy/Access/IT professionals, PLEASE TAKE NOTE! Ever since Conficker affected seven million company networks and spread via USB – I’d say the rain has already started, so you better hurry and get on the boat.