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DOD details strict flash drive rules |
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Washington Technology
www.washingtontechnology.com
By Doug
Beizer
Retrieved Feb 23, 2010
Go to Original Article
Across the board ban lifted for mission critical
applications
The Defense Department was able to lift a
ban on portable storage devices such as thumb drives because of changes to DOD
computer systems that make the devices safer to use, Vice Adm. Carl Mauney,
deputy commander of the U.S. Strategic Command, said today. But that doesn't
mean personnel have carte blanche. DOD still maintains strict rules for the
devices.
“After extensive testing of mitigation measures, DOD decided to
make this technology available again on a strictly controlled basis on DOD
computers,” Mauney said via e-mail. “Since the order restricting use of
removable media, DOD developed capabilities and processes that allow safe use of
these devices. Removable media use will be limited to mission-essential
operations, and only after strict compliance requirements are met.”
The
new policy, issued Feb. 12, only applies to government-procured and
government-owned devices, Mauney said. Personally owned devices are still barred
from all DOD networks and computers. Flash media can only be used as a last
resort to transfer data from one location to another, and only when other
authorized network resources are not available, he said.
Related story:
DOD lifts
USB ban
Randomly selected users and drives will
be subject to periodic auditing, under the new policy. Individual services and
agencies will determine whether flash media may be used in their individual
organizations, Mauney said.
Some in the military found the all out ban
too restrictive, according to one DOD source. The new policy is a compromise.
“This is not a return to 'business as usual,'” Mauney said. “There
remain strict limitations on using these devices. Use will be permitted only in
DOD computers that are in compliance with requirements for hardware that allows
for safe transfer of data.”
For now, Army officials plan to keep the ban on flash drives in place, according
to the Army News Service.
“We are currently conducting mission analysis
in order to provide guidance for the Army's safe return of thumb drives and
flash media,” officials from the Army Global Network Operations Security Center
said, according to the news service.
The ban was issued in November 2008
after a virus was found to be spreading through military networks by copying
itself from one removable drive to another. The ban covered all forms of USB
flash media, such as thumb drives, memory sticks and cards, and camera memory
cards, as well as some other removable media.
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2009 Annual Study: Cost of a Data Breach |
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Retrieved February 10, 2010
http://www.pgp.com/
The 2009 Annual Study: Cost of Data Breach has just been released.
This is provided by PGP Corporation and the Ponemon Institute. This survey documents the high costs that result when companies lose customer data.
Download your copy
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The Paper Paradigm: A Call for a New Electronic Standard |
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The Paper Paradigm:
A Call for a New Electronic Standard
to Govern Digital Data Destruction
By Roger Hutchison
President, CD ROM, Inc.
August, 2009
Click here for the article in PDF format
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D3 Services Opens Office in Fort Myers, FL |
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Digital Data Destruction Services (D3 Services) – Opens Office in Fort Myers
October 16, 2009 Fort Myers, FL. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE. D3 Services, the first company in the US to be awarded a GSA contract for digital data destruction has opened an office in Fort Myers. Founded in 2004, D3 Services is the first company in the U.S. to offer auditable, high-end, digital data destruction equipment and services with a 100% earth-friendly disposition of all by-products. D3 Services and its products are HIPAA, FACTA, Gramm-Leach-Bliley, and Sarbanes-Oxley compliant.
The company, with a corporate office in Iron River, WI., and field offices in Minneapolis, Clearwater and Fort Myers offers high security destruction services that will remove digital information on all electronic media.
CD ROM, Inc., its sister manufacturing company, sells devices evaluated by the National Security Agency for classified data destruction. These products are used in the data destruction cycle to ensure complete and compliant destruction of digital data.
The new D3 Services office will be located at 1528 Broadway in downtown Fort Myers.
On Friday November 6th from 4-6 PM D3 Services will be hosting an event at Café Matisse 2236 First Street, Fort Myers. They are anxious to meet their new Fort Myers neighbors and invite everyone to attend.
For more information please call 239.332.2800. www.d3services.com
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Ghana: Digital Dumping Ground |
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Frontline World
www.pbs.org
Retrieved 24 Jun 09
Go
to Original Article
On the outskirts of Ghana's biggest city sits a smoldering wasteland, a slum
carved into the banks of the Korle Lagoon, one of the most polluted bodies of
water on earth. The locals call it Sodom and Gomorrah.
Correspondent Peter Klein and a group of graduate journalism students from
the University of British Columbia have come here as part of a global
investigation -- to track a shadowy industry that's causing big problems here
and around the world.
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Read more...
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National Archives Loses Sensitive Data |
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AP
FoxNews.com
Retrieved May20, 2009
Go to Original Article
The FBI is conducting a criminal investigation of the matter, according to
Rep. Edolphus Towns, D-N.Y., chairman of the House Oversight and Government
Reform Committee, and senior committee Republican Darrell Issa of California.
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Read more...
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