* USB flash drives in all sizes and shapes
In recent articles, I’ve looked at how USB flash drives with biometric authentication and access controls can be helpful in a range of applications. But what if you are not keen on having anyone use these portable devices without authorization? How can you control USB ports on today’s computers?
The problem is exacerbated by the increasing variety of form factors for USB flash drives. Not only are they available in inch-long versions that are easy to conceal in any pocket, purse or wallet, but also there are forms that are not even recognizable as storage devices unless one knows what to look for.
Consider for example the “USB MP3 Player Watch” with 256M bytes of storage (see https://tinyurl.com/5xtxb for details) that one of my readers pointed out to me recently (thanks, James!). This device looks like an analog watch but comes with cables for USB I/O (and earphones too). Any bets your security guards are going to be able to spot this as a mass-storage device equivalent to a stack 177 high of 3.5-inch floppy diskettes?
Then there is the newest gift for the geeks in your life, the SwissMemory USB Memory & Knife:
You can buy this gadget, including a blade, scissors, file with screwdriver tip, pen and USB memory, in 64M, 128M, 256M, or 512M-byte capacities. And here I thought my Swiss Army knife with a set of screwdriver heads was the neatest geek tool I’d ever seen.
The USB Pen (not a “PenDrive”) is a pen that uses standard ink refills but also includes 128M bytes of USB flash memory: https://tinyurl.com/6z6js
I suppose next we’ll be hearing about USB earrings, USB nose-studs, USB tie clips – no, no, please don’t send me URLs for all of these. I’m just making a point: they’re going to be ubiquitous, and they’re going to go unnoticed.
In my next article, I’ll look at some ways of controlling these fungating storage devices.
