USB drives, one of the most common medium used to carry and transfer data between computers. With the passage of time, we are heavily relying on these devices but at the same time it also exposes us to different threats of data leak and data thefts.
Transferring data from one computer to another has always been a need since the time we all started using computers. Whether is taking assignments for college, universities or be it an office project that you have been working on at home. There was a time when the only medium available was floppy disks and it was supposed to be a blessing for all of us. Though it was a trouble carrying data in those diskettes due to their unreliability, disks not getting read at a different location and above all, the size of data that you could carry was just a mere 1.44 MB. The most appreciated and market capturing invention of USB drives in 1999 by Amir Ban, Dov Moran and Oron Ogdan gave this troublesome procedure of carrying data a new revolution.
USB drives are now the most commonly used medium to transfer data between computers. USB Flash drive, Thumb Drives and Pen Drives are the common names used for these drives. The answer to why these drives have become the most popular and common medium to transfer data is simple, USB drives, USB Flash drives, Thumb Drive and Pen drives are cheap in price, very small in size and at the same time allows you to carry gigabytes of data with you. There are lots of companies who are producing these drives in different shapes and sizes. As of January 2012 drives of 256GB were available, 512GB and 1 terabytes (TB) drives were in planning.
Along with convenience comes the unwanted threat of data being exposed to severe risks of data leaks and data theft. Because of their small size there is always a great possibility of such mishaps, what would happen if your USB drive gets stolen or you misplace it?
Most of us (including me) are not concerned about securing data on USB Portable drives until we experience a similar incident. I got to know about this threat when I almost got fired from my job just because I lost my USB drive containing around 35 GBs of official data. (I don’t know if it actually got misplaced or somebody stole it). At first it wasn’t a big deal since I have a habit of keeping everything backed up on my PC but then couldn’t neglect the risk of my drive getting into wrong hands. That was the last day when I kept my data unsecured on a portable drive.
We hear thousands of similar stories daily on internet from our friends, colleagues but never give an ear to them just because we think we are too smart to lose this little thing. Mishaps can happen anytime with anyone, why take the unnecessary risk?
I recommend using USB Security software to keep your data protected on your USB drives just in case you encounter a similar incident. These software are usually very small and light weighed applications that password protects USB drive and all your files and folders stored on it. There are some very easy and user-friendly applications to Secure USB drive that gets installed directly on these USB drives, Flash Drives, Thumbs Drives, Pen drives, SD cards and even external drives of sizes as huge as 1 Terabyte and then you can plug-in these drives on any computer and protect/unprotect your data without requiring any additional installation. Keep in mind, your USB drive might be cheap but the data you are carrying, priceless!
For more information please visit
http://www.newsoftwares.net/usb-secure/
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The Perfect Measure to Secure Data
Storing data in on a PC is always risky. There is always a fear of data getting stolen.
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