But not completely, and only because people tend to be the weakest link in any security scheme.  That is, if you're using the right encryption software like disk encryption software from AlertBoot, the encryption is solid.

External Drives And Encryption: Making A Good Thing Better

The capacities of hard drives are going up, prices per gigabyte are coming down, and the physical dimensions seem to be getting smaller as well.  It's a great combination for on-the-go people.  Unfortunately, it also means that, when that drive gets misplaced, there is a good chance that a serious data breach will occur.

You've probably read or heard about situations where a data breach was caused by the loss of a hard drive.  It's not surprising, really.  To begin with, small things get lost easily.  Heck, there's even three movies--a trilogy, actually--based on the loss and recovery of a ring, for example.  Small things = lost things, sooner or later.

Plus, the capacities of hard drives, and the sheer amount of information stored on them, would allow a criminal to reconstruct an identity even if he or she were not to find Social Security numbers or the like.  This was just not possible with the loss of 3.5" floppy disks from 15 years ago.

Chances are the loss of an external drive today, be it corporate or personal, would be a critical data breach.  However, that doesn't mean that a data breach cannot be contained.  By using encryption software [http://www.alertboot.com/encryption_foundation/alertboot-disk-encryption-technology-foundation.aspx ; using encryption software for data security ], a data breach can be relegated to just the loss of data, while preventing the use of the same data for fraud and other crimes.

What Factors Are Important When Choosing Encryption Programs?

Despite being an old concept--Julius Caesar encrypted messages to his generals--secure encryption algorithms are relatively few.  However, the good news is that those that work, will work exceedingly well.

• Look for software that uses encryption algorithms that are public.  RSA and AES, for example, are open algorithms, and so very mathematically sound that they can afford to publish how they work without compromising their security.
  
  This is contrast to most in-house encryption algorithms that rely on the secrecy of their algorithms to protect your data.  Once the algorithm is figured out (and they probably will be...that's why there is a dearth of secure encryption algorithms), your data is as good as open to the public.
  
  
• Look for 128-bit encryption key or higher.  Currently, and this is just a rule of thumb but a good one (I won't go into symmetric and asymmetric encryption and whatnot), any encryption algorithm that uses less than 128-bit encryption means that it's just a matter of time before a hacker figures out the key to unlock all of your data.  For the next ten year or so, barring the introduction of quantum computers, 128 bits should be fine.

That's pretty much it for encryption algorithm requirements.  However, there may be other added benefits you may be looking for that will make your life easier.  For example, these are also available from AlertBoot:

• 24/7 password resets.  In case you forget the password to access your encrypted data.  Available via phones or via the internet.
  
  
• Centrally managed transparent encryption.  Of tremendous benefit for corporate settings.  Employees cannot stop the encryption process.  In fact, they're not even aware that it's happening.  Plus, allows central control of what gets encrypted...or decrypted, as your needs may be.
  
  
• Encryption audit and compliance reports.  Security is an on-going process; you can't just rest on your laurels because you've encrypted everything.  You have to constantly follow up, and also have to be able to prove compliance when the authorities come knocking (SabOx, HIPAA, Massachusetts 201 CMR 17.00, etc.)
  
  
• USB port blocking with blacklists.  If employees or friends try to connect a flash drive to a computer with this feature, they'll find that the port doesn't work.  However, non-storage devices like a USB-based mouse would work.  A useful feature if your company is well networked and you don't like the ramifications of really small objects with tremendous capacities being used.
  
  
• Automatic encryption of storage drives connected to the USB port. Does exactly what it says.  Plus, you can set it up so that the drive works only with that one computer, or with an authorized group of computers.  (If you opt for this, make sure people understand their iPhones are storage devices, too, and shouldn't connect them to the office computer!)

The list doesn't end there, but it seems like you'd be better off visiting our main site.