March 27, 2014
Preparing for adverse events now before they happen can be an uncomfortable task by any means, but when it comes to securing important data, it's certainly a necessary step if one is to prevent even further misfortune. Any smart, forward-thinking organization or individual will consider a good plan for heading off potential adversity, or a way to endure through it if it is unavoidable. Whether a threat to data is by human error, malicious intent, or unexpected disaster, organizations and individuals should be prepared for as many contingencies as they can to secure their important information from getting into the wrong hands. Kanguru makes it easy. With simple, cost-effective security measures and defenses, you can prevent the loss of your sensitive data to disaster, data breach, identity theft, or even the passing / leaving of someone who has access to it. Kanguru’s secure, hardware encrypted USB flash drives, Defender Hard Drives, and Remote Management can offer enormous peace of mind to weather through any type of storm, either man-made or natural, eliminating the chances for data loss.
Weathering Through Disaster
We would all hope to avoid it, but we understand that a disaster could inevitably happen to anyone in some form or another, providing ample opportunity for data loss. The news is filled with stories of fire, flood, hurricane, tornado, terrorism… any one of these scenarios which could strike at anytime, from anywhere, leaving sensitive data exposed and vulnerable or even destroyed, heaping further disaster upon another one.
Loss of Power / Internet Access
One of the first things to remember is that an extensive disruption of access to the internet or power grid could be the most widespread consequence. For organizations that rely simply on Cloud data storage, downed servers and power outages could shut down a business for weeks – even if they are miles away from the cause. With Kanguru Defender secure, hardware encrypted USB drives and Defender External Drives, data backups can be in place for immediate and secure access to important data right away.
Water Damage
In the event of water damage, the Kanguru Defender line of hardware encrypted USB drives and Defender HDD offer both water-resistant and tamper-resistant protections. In fact, the Kanguru Defender 3000 is waterproof, protecting important data with an epoxy-filled, brute-force protected casing to the very end.
Scattering of Data
Another element that can give businesses peace of mind is Kanguru’s hardware encrypted USB drive password lock-out. If a disaster were to strike unexpectedly that scattered property and encrypted USB drives across the region, important and sensitive information is still completely safe, because it is locked away with no chance of access by an unauthorized user.
Remote management of secure USB drives is another great way to protect your important information if an adverse event were to occur. Having Kanguru Remote Management in place within your organization to manage and monitor your Defender USB flash drives and/or Defender HDD provides an excellent way to track their locations and wipe or delete any lost or stolen USB drives altogether.
Kanguru even offers custom engraving on USB flash drives or hard drives, for unique identifications like serial numbers, logos, or other information that could assist in retrieving the flash drive if it were ever lost, stolen, or scattered.
Preventing Man-Made Disasters
Man-made disasters can be equally damaging, bringing down businesses or individuals with one swift punch from threats like viruses, cyber crime, malware, identity theft, or other breach of data. Kanguru’s Defender AES 256-bit hardware encrypted USB drives, secure Defender HDD and SSDs have on-board anti-virus protection with real-time scanning to combat any type of violation from the inside, while their tamper-resistant design and brute-force protection will exhaust any attempt at infringement from the outside.
Another opportunity for loss doesn’t even have to come from outside of an organization, but could be from within, or even by ourselves. We all lose things on occasion, and dropping a USB flash drive on the subway, in the street, or airport is not all that uncommon. A lost, unsecured USB drive containing important, sensitive information could prove disastrous – if a devious individual were to access the unsecured information. But with Kanguru’s completely secure, hardware encrypted USB drives or Defender secure hard drives, and a backup of your data, the loss is very minimal since the information cannot be accessed by an unauthorized user.
Loss of a Proprietor of Important Information
One other adverse event that both organizations and individuals should prepare for is the unexpected passing (or leaving) of someone who has access to important data through passwords, special accounts, and other sensitive information. It happens far more often than we realize, that an individual within an organization, or even a head of household who has access to restricted accounts suddenly passes, leaving the organization or family with no access to important bank accounts, password protected accounts, investments, wills, contacts, legal documents, etc. With a good disaster plan in place, all of this information could be safely stored on a hardware encrypted USB drive under master password protection, and secured with only certain predisposed individuals having access to the master password. This is perfect for Wills and Estate planning for families and households, or financial planning for corporate entities, organizations and businesses.
In A Case Like Edward Snowden
In a situation of deliberate espionage from an individual possessing important information like the case of Edward Snowden, whether you agree with him or not, he was able to smuggle important data using an unsecured thumb drive. Had a Kanguru Remote Management system been in place with assigned, Defender secure hardware encrypted USB flash drives or secure Defender hard drives, the data could have been wiped immediately from the drive anywhere in the world at the touch of a button by an administrator through a secure encrypted communications channel. Criminals would not get very far with the information on a remotely managed Kanguru Defender USB Flash Drive or Defender HDD. Once the data is wiped, an administrator could then require passwords to be updated on remaining drives throughout the network, update virus protections and policies, file reports, and restrict USB drives to be accessible only through certain online or offline permissions. Furthermore, in extremely sensitive and volatile situations, an administrator could choose to restrict access of a Kanguru Defender USB device to a specific network and the drive will not function outside of that network. Even administrators could be set up with a strong set of checks and balances. Master administrators and sub-administrators could be restricted to certain permissions and privileges for access within the remote management system, providing only specific access based on their level of security clearance; an excellent way to protect against abuse. This provides an unprecedented layer upon layer of protection for organizations with highly vulnerable data.
Preparing for adverse events now is the key to successfully navigating through them in the future - if and when they occur, whether in a workplace environment or the home. How prepared you are for disaster or man-made adversity now will determine how secure your data is, and how quickly you can recover, keeping the element of surprise to a minimum. Don’t leave your important data vulnerable at a time when you will need it most. Kanguru makes it our business to help make planning and protecting data a whole lot easier. Feel free to contact us if you would like to learn more about implementing a secure hardware encrypted USB environment for your organization. We are always happy to assist in any way we can to help you get the most out of your disaster preparedness and data protection plan.
Why Is It So Important To Use Secure USB Devices?
Kanguru is a global leader in providing secure portable storage solutions, providing enterprises, organizations and consumers with the best in easy-to-use, secure IT products and data storage. For more information on Kanguru, please visit www.kanguru.com.