SanDisk Reveals Flash Drive Threat, Offers Solution

Memory card vendor SanDisk has released the results of a survey showing that businesses have little idea of how much company data is stored on personal flash drives that can easily be lost or stolen.The phone survey was conducted on SanDisk's behalf in March 2008 by Applied Research-West. When asked how many end users employed personal flash drives for work purposes, company IT respondents estimated the number at 35 percent, while 77 percent of the users themselves admitted to the practice. The kinds of data placed on the drives included customer records, financial information, business and marketing plans, and intellectual property. Forty-four percent of the users said that as far as they knew, such use was not against any company policies.

At the same time, 12 percent of the users surveyed reported finding a flash drive in a public place, and 55 percent said they'd look at what was on such a drive if they found one.

In related news, SanDisk also announced version 3.0 of its Central Management and Control software for managing the company?s secure Cruzer Enterprise drives.The Inquirer, The Register