Data Encryption Memory sticks

[Geoff]

Have you tried it with gummi bears?

Gummi bears defeat fingerprint sensors | The Register

[RabbieBurns]

Can't say I have yet..

Although if I lose it and someone finds it in the street then they wont know who it belongs to to lift a fingerprint from I guess

[SYNACK]

Originally Posted by rreynolds24

Can't say I have yet..

Although if I lose it and someone finds it in the street then they wont know who it belongs to to lift a fingerprint from I guess

Unless they manage to pull the right print off the surface of the usb key

[JohnMason]

Easylock might be what you need. It features strong encryption, is installed on the stick itself, and doesn't need admin privledges on the main computer in order to run.

Of course, i think anyone worried about gummy bear fingerprint stealing is a little anyway. It's more likely that casual theft / access will be a problem.

[pooley]

Sorry to bump an old thread.

Any recommendations for USB encryption at a school where we use Mac OSX and XP.

Looking at truecrypt now, just thinking in my head how easy they (them technophobic teachers) will be able to use it.

[CyberNerd]

;
Becta released a load of documentation on how to use Truecrypt
http://schools.becta.org.uk/upload-d...encryption.odt

[bossman]

WoW!! 54 pages of information to peruse from Becta looks like it will be a long night.
They must think IT staff at school have nothing better to do?

Does anyone out there know how long it would take to deploy, test and implement data encryption throughout the school and at what cost including training to the school.
I do feel this needs some common sense approach as the teachers and staff will not understand why their laptops and usb pendrives have to be encrypted resulting in unforseen problems with forgotten passwords etc etc.

Would it not be more attainable if we were to pinpoint those staff members who come into contact with L2 data and just encrypt the data for their needs as the other members of staff will have no access to this level of confidential data?

[pooley]

Originally Posted by bossman

Would it not be more attainable if we were to pinpoint those staff members who come into contact with L2 data and just encrypt the data for their needs as the other members of staff will have no access to this level of confidential data?

That's what I intend to do here, have passed on Dicument to LEA as I think this should be an LEA initiative but not holding my breath.

Encrypting pc's / laptops on a whole school setup is pointless, USB pens are used to take L2/L3 data to and from school so they are my main target for encryption right now.

[plexer]

Norfolk LEA are currently looking at the issue of encryption and using Truecrypt to acheive this.

If I hear any more about this I'll post back.

Ben

[GrumbleDook]

Originally Posted by bossman

Would it not be more attainable if we were to pinpoint those staff members who come into contact with L2 data and just encrypt the data for their needs as the other members of staff will have no access to this level of confidential data?

*All* teaching staff are likely to come across IL2 data due to differentiation and planning for students with particular educational needs (not just the traditional SEN but also those who have internally had behavioural information shared about them between staff). There is an increasing likelihood that other staff will have come into contact with this information via administrative tasks or supporting teachers.

Becta usually get slated for not including broad enough information ... it makes a change for them to be slated for including too much.

That level of information about TrueCrypt is to enable schools to get a quick win with regards to portable information. As for the total cost for a school to move to a full solution and the time taken ... I don't think there is a school that meets all the requirements yet. There is no allocated money for this (since schools should have been doing it anyway) but a number of LAs are looking at how they can bulk purchase solutions to help schools.

[bossman]

@GrumbleDook:
Not slating them Tony just enquiring to see if anyone knows how much time this would take out of your average network managers schedule as it does involve sensitive data should they be the one's to come up with a solution?
Why does everything to do with E-solutions immediately fall on their already overworked shoulders, i feel that LA's with more access to staff and budget should be taking this on-board and giving recommendations as to what to use and the costs and time frame involved.

[CyberNerd]

Originally Posted by bossman

@GrumbleDook:
Not slating them Tony just enquiring to see if anyone knows how much time this would take out of your average network managers schedule as it does involve sensitive data should they be the one's to come up with a solution?
Why does everything to do with E-solutions immediately fall on their already overworked shoulders, i feel that LA's with more access to staff and budget should be taking this on-board and giving recommendations as to what to use and the costs and time frame involved.

thats why becta are also advocating outsourcing IT services

[bossman]

@Cybernerd:
But at what costs:BSF schools to spend 1.29bn on IT by 2012 - 28 Aug 2008 - Computing

2 sides to every coin and I know which one i prefer.

[GrumbleDook]

Originally Posted by bossman

@GrumbleDook:
Not slating them Tony just enquiring to see if anyone knows how much time this would take out of your average network managers schedule as it does involve sensitive data should they be the one's to come up with a solution?
Why does everything to do with E-solutions immediately fall on their already overworked shoulders, i feel that LA's with more access to staff and budget should be taking this on-board and giving recommendations as to what to use and the costs and time frame involved.

Setting it up is going to take the time, which is why looking for quick wins is regarded as important. If all schools give staff a USB stick then get TrueCrypt on it in Traveller mode.

The big ones will be solutions for audit as well as controlling access, and getting MIS to sort out labelling.

I think we would all be happy to hear af any real world experience of schools making small or large changes.

[JJonas]

We are using the Portableapps version of Toucan

Toucan | PortableApps.com - Portable software for USB drives