Secure USB Drive

The Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for the State of Michigan, Dan Lohrmann, recently gave this revealing interview. 

In it, he mentioned that the state has cut its overall IT spend by around 20% to $400 million per year.  However, spending on IT security has doubled in the last five years.  Also, when asked specifically about the risks of USB flash drives for data loss and introducing malware, Lohrmann commented:
 
“Certainly, data loss prevention.  It doesn’t necessarily mean it is intentional, but it is the insider threat. People think they are doing the right thing by bringing a Word document home with them - maybe that has some sensitive information on it - and use a home PC; they can certainly bring a virus back into the enterprise. We do have some protection mechanisms in place on devices to look for endpoint viruses and things.”

It’s good to see this strong awareness of the need to protect mobile data is out there at the highest levels.  Hopefully we see data losses and leaks finally starting to diminish this year.