Secure Portable Storage

AES encryption with 256 bit keys offers the strongest protection of data available in a FIPS-approved encryption algorithm. Indeed, the National Security Agency (NSA) considers the design of AES and the strength of its key sizes sufficient for protecting its classified information. In CNSS Policy No. 15, they state key sizes of 128, 192, and 256 bits are sufficient for SECRET and 192 and 256 bits for TOP SECRET. See CNSS Policy No. 15, Fact Sheet No. 1

Hardware encryption offers more security and portability than software-based encryption. With software encryption, the data is being processed on the host computer where it can be exposed to malicious software, while hardware encryption occurs within the trusted environment of the device. Because hardware-based encryption happens on the device transparently, no software needs to be installed and is as fully portable as a regular (unencrypted) flash drive.

Encrypting data is not enough to assure that your information is secure. If the authentication to access the data is weak then the strength of the encryption or the size of the encryption key is irrelevant. In order to ensure your data stays encrypted and does not fall into the wrong hands, strong authentication is a necessary element to protecting the encryption key and thus the overall data. By combining password and/or biometric authentication with hardware that automatically locks up if too many authentications fail, significant levels of security are added to protecting your encrypted information. With hardware authentication, software attacks are ineffective.

True portability means that the device can be used on any machine regardless of operating system. As long as USB mass storage is supported on the host machine the device will operate like any USB storage device. The hardware implementation of authentication and transparent encryption means that no software is needed and the device has the same mobility as a regular flash drive.

Your organization should know who has what device. Furthermore, the identities of these users need to come from the corporate identity store (typically an LDAP directory). The last thing a company needs is another identity silo.

Policies for authentication (how many fingers to swipe, retry limits, biometric security levels, minimum password lengths, etc.) should be determined and set appropriately for various groups of users in accordance with their usage and environment. For example, mobile users may need biometric authentication while internal users may only need password devices.

Easy to implement password and biometric recovery options must be available to help rescue blocked users, anywhere in the field they happen to be located.

Data recovery options should be available to security officers so that they can satisfy the need to perform audits on the stored information without the user being present.

One of the benefits of secure portable storage devices is that they can provide greater mobility for applications. Organizations may wish to determine and control the set of applications that are appropriate for different groups of users. For example, mobile workers may need a remote access client on their devices, while internal employees do not.

Organizations must be compliant with regulations on data security and corporate governance. To fully assure compliance when deploying security devices, administrative roles for different tasks must be separable and administrative operations must be logged.

When employees leave an organization or no longer have a need for a device, there is no need to throw them away. Instead options for re-cycling devices and re-issuing them to other users within the organization should be available.

Desktop virtualization, the ability to access your own personal computing environment from anywhere, can be achieved in a number of ways - from remote desktop connections to carrying portable applications, to carrying your entire desktop with you. With MXI Security portable devices you can securely carry your entire operating system on a portable USB device, knowing that your data is fully encrypted and that no one but you will have access to it.

You can set up a fully portable desktop on an MXI Security device in one of two ways: 1. A virtual machine image can be carried on the device and run within a virtual machine software environment on the host computer. 2. Alternatively, a host machine can also be completely re-booted into the operating system that is carried on your device.

Portable desktops for Windows, Linux, and Mac OS/X are available with full encryption of the portable operating system within the user's private partition and strong user authentication to access it.