Word on the street about data encryption

Our story about vendors’ efforts to develop storage devices that meet new guidelines issued this year by the Joint Task Force-Global Network Operations (NTF-GNO) generated some insightful comments — and useful suggestions — from readers.

Some readers felt that security is everyone’s concern and that a layered defense is the best way to protect sensitive data.

An anonymous reader found it odd that people don’t routinely scan flash drives for viruses before retrieving data on a different machines. “The flash drives are nothing but a replacement for floppy (disks) and machines that don’t have CD-ROMs. Simple computer safety ignored,” anonymous wrote.

Another reader, Fernando, took that idea one step further. He notes that even the best scanning programs will fail to catch some types of malware. The best protection is a defense-in-depth approach, he said. The guidelines are useful reading for everyone.

“I think we should all pay attention to the military’s concerns since we are all targets,” he wrote.

Other readers focused on that part of the story about vendors that have engineered devices that automatically encrypt data stored to them. One of these is Mobile Armor, which holds contracts for Data-at-Rest protection with the Army and Navy.

John Miles said that the organization where he works uses Mobile Armor’s products and that it encrypts data on his laptop and the flash drives and CDs that he uses, too. He says it is fast and effective.

“It have a client on my laptop that has a policy that states all of my data needs to be encrypted,” he wrote. “I like this because it takes place automatically and I don’t have to think about it. The alternative is a policy that restricts my use of removable media. That would severely hinder my productivity, so I am all for the Mobile Armor solution.”

Although Mobile Armor has tested very well, it is only one of the USB and Data-at-Rest solutions available, wrote Kevin Dayton. He recommends the Air Force Research Lab’s free Encryption Wizard (go to Software Protection Initiative Web site) which can work on almost any computer, whether on the Non-classified IP Router Network or private networks, to secure and trade files.