Portable drives are the most popular means of moving large chunks of data from computer A to computer B. Today, most drives can hold several gigabytes of data into one device which is essential – considering the large amounts of data we use today. It seems like we unknowingly cram personal videos, documents, images and the like into our portable drives without realizing the implications behind it. To illustrate what can happen in such a case, take the following story as an example:
There was once a guy name Alex, he was smart, witty and intelligent to say the least. He graduated from college majoring in actuaries. He was excellent in predicting risk and statistical outcomes. He was so good that he landed a well paying job at a large insurance company. Within a few years, he moved up the ladder quicker than most of his peers – in fact within few years – he landed a high-profile position as the chief of risk analysis department. Shocked by his new found success, his peers – many of who were still in their original position – often also expressed jealously by his success and abilities.
Consequently, one of his peers named Jeff became so jealous; he decided to act on it. For that reason, he conjured up a diabolical plan to get Alex fired, and perhaps even blacklist him from being employed in the field of actuaries all together. Jeff knew that Alex always carries around his portable drive home with him – so that he can get extra work done – even at home. One day, when Alex had done uploading his work for so that he can work from home – he stepped out from his cabin to go to the bathroom, Jeff acting swiftly – and not missing out on a chance to act – quickly went into his cabin and replaced his external drive with a duplicate one (so that Alex wont suspect any wrongdoing.)
Surprisingly, Alex didn’t suspect a thing, and he grabbed the decoy drive and went home. While, Jeff quickly acted on moving along with his plan to sabotage Alex’s career. Accordingly, he drove to a competitor’s office, and left the drive at the front gate. After few months, Alex’s employer began losing money and customers –they were confused about the sudden drop in sales and customers. After Alex’s employers launch an investigation, it was realized that company data – which was only vested to Alex – had ended up, somehow, in the hands of competitors – his guilt was further proved when his drive turned up on the competitors premises. As it would obviously be predicted, Alex was fired and the news spread like wildfire of his unethical behavior – and as you can make out by the scenario – he was unemployable – at least in the insurance industry.
The above is a great example of what an unsecured drive can do to a person’s career; there are also other examples of blackmail, identity theft and theft of intellectual property. To ensure that this never happens to you, make sure that you Secure USB drives containing confidential information.
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