Do you encrypt your data on travelling storage!

[markis10]

I wonder how many travellers here encrypt their data on USB sticks etc, the story on Railcorp's passengers lost USB keys is alarming in the sense that no data was secure and secondly a company was happy to sell such devices knowing their primary purpose was to hold data!

RailCorp's sale of 50 misplaced USB keys containing sensitive personal information about passengers has sparked an investigation by the NSW Privacy Commissioner.
Sophos, the computer security company that bought the USB keys from RailCorp's lost property auction for just over $400, obtained them to conduct an experiment into data left on lost USB keys.
Paul Ducklin, head of technology at Sophos, analysed the data contained on the devices and found two-thirds were infected with malware.

Read more: RailCorp sale of Sydney train passengers' USB keys sparks probe
​

 

[Andyc]

I began thinking about it in the last few weeks and actually made the decision to get an encrypted USB drive.

I ordered an IronKey USB stick from the US and hope to have it very soon. They are a little pricey (even with the Black Friday sale prices I availed of) but I just made the decision that I don't want to have to worry about my private files falling into the wrong hands.

 

[richie9x]

I encrypt all important data. Basically if it would cause any trouble or loss if someone else got their hands on it then I'll encrypt it.

I use TrueCrypt for most removable storage. The only problem with it is that it requires admin privledges on the computer you want to use it on. So if you want to access it on a locked down computer then you are out of luck, for me that is quite rare.

 

[harvyk]

No...

But this question does remind me of the following -> xkcd: Security

 

[NM]

I have Checkpoint End Point Security with full encryption on the disk and option to encrypt any external media (USB drives etc).

So for things like sharing personal photos, not I would not encrypt. But any corporate data gets encrypted.

 

[elbarto]

No, but It is something that has crossed my mind that should be done.

 

[tuapekastar]

I lost a 16 GB USB stick on my DONE4 last year. :evil: (subsequently I recalled exactly what I did to lose it). No encryption, but from memory it had only a few movies and nothing else of any importance on it. I probably should encrypt the data on the replacement.

 

[Oneworldplus2]

As mentioned above (richie9x), Truecrypt is a open source program.



FBI hackers fail to crack TrueCrypt - Techworld.com

The FBI has admitted defeat in attempts to break the open source encryption used to secure hard drives seized by Brazilian police during a 2008 investigation.
The Bureau had been called in by the Brazilian authorities after the country's own National Institute of Criminology (INC) had been unable to crack the passphrases used to secure the drives by suspect banker, Daniel Dantas.
Brazilian reports state that two programs were used to encrypt the drives, one of which was the popular and widely-used free open source program TrueCrypt. Experts in both countries apparently spent months trying to discover the passphrases using a dictionary attack, a technique that involves trying out large numbers of possible character combinations until the correct sequence is found.

 

[risky]

The whole point about a USB key is to transfer or transport data quickly and easily. if your encryption system only works on the host notebook it was created on...not much good! Plenty have an auto-launch that starts the encryption program, but like another poster already suggested, these probably require admin rights.

The issue of virus and malware is a related problem; if you plug your key into somebody else's computer, you may be infected with whatever is on their PC. That is why the antirus and related programs are on the computers that you control. Also remember that holding down the Shift key whilst inserting the USB key should stop any autorun programs from starting up and trying to infect your computer.

Don't forget that previously deleted data is also readily accessible. Even if you have written many other files since, it may still be possible to simply recover files deleted a long time ago.

I have used truecrypt for many years for a subset of data. It works well for me on the main systems. Really sensitive data should never really go on a USB unless it is encrypted.

 

[russ]

V rapelcg rirelguvat, vapyhqvat zl cbfgf.


Ynfg jrrx V fnj WbuaX va gur ybhatr qevaxvat n Pbfzbcbyvgna!


Yhpxl gur zbqrengbef pna'g ernq guvf!

 

[DeKa]

V rapelcg rirelguvat, vapyhqvat zl cbfgf.


Ynfg jrrx V fnj WbuaX va gur ybhatr qevaxvat n Pbfzbcbyvgna!


Yhpxl gur zbqrengbef pna'g ernq guvf!

I take it that's encrypted!

 

[Mal]

yhpxl gur zbqrengbef pna'g ernq guvf!

irel jrnx plcure.

 

[samiam]

Hail, erm, russ

 

[samiam]

irel jrnx plcure.

Time will tell.

 

[oz_mark]

V rapelcg rirelguvat, vapyhqvat zl cbfgf.


Ynfg jrrx V fnj WbuaX va gur ybhatr qevaxvat n Pbfzbcbyvgna!


Yhpxl gur zbqrengbef pna'g ernq guvf!

I am quite surprised at his choice of drink!

 

[risky]

Ynfg jrrx V fnj WbuaX va gur ybhatr qevaxvat n Pbfzbcbyvgna!

V dhvgr yvxr gur bppnfvbany pbpxgnvy gbb!

 

[SeatBackForward]

V rapelcg rirelguvat, vapyhqvat zl cbfgf.


Ynfg jrrx V fnj WbuaX va gur ybhatr qevaxvat n Pbfzbcbyvgna!


Yhpxl gur zbqrengbef pna'g ernq guvf!

Nice to see you're ecrypting those too, and who was reading that particular magazine in the Lounge? I'm sure some of the moderators could, it only took me 10mins.