Supported
Device Classes
With the vast majority of desktop and laptop PCs now
featuring various disk writers and high-speed data ports,
it has never been easier for a user to deliberately
or accidentally remove sensitive data, introduce malicious
code or transfer inappropriate content.
To guard against these risks, DeviceWall actively
manages the connections that can be used to transfer
data to and from the PC, such as:
» USB Ports
» Firewire Ports
» Internal & external floppy drives
» Internal & external CD and DVD drives
DeviceWall simplifies the task of controlling which
devices can be connected to a PC by grouping them
into the following classifications:
Storage Devices
» Diskette drive
» Plug and play storage (includes: USB memorySticks,
iPods & media players, CompactFlash, Cameras etc)
PDAs
» Blackberry (and other RIM devices)
» MS pocket CE (includes: iPAQ, AXIM etc)
» Palm OS devices (includes Zire, Tungsten and Treo
phones etc.)
Optical drive
» DVD/CD ROM (includes internal & external drives
/ writers)
DeviceWall enables the policy to be set for each individual
device class.
Calculating the risk
When deciding what devices pose the greatest risk
to your organization, you need to understand the capacity
of the device, how accessible they are and how widespread
their use is:
| Device |
Max Capacity |
Cost |
Proliferation |
Total Risk |
| External storage drives |
2 - 200GB |
Low |
High |
Very High |
| Floppy Disk |
1.44mb |
Very Low |
Very High |
Medium |
| Mobile phone |
128mb+ |
Low |
Very High |
High |
| PDAs |
128mb+ |
High |
Medium |
High |
| CDs |
800mb+ |
low |
Very High |
Very High |
| DVDs |
4.7gb |
low |
High |
High |
Organizations also need to determine what are the
legitimate reasons why certain individuals may need
access to any specific type of device. Once you know
these exceptions you should quite simply block all
other scenarios from occuring.
Determine your permissable use policy and then isolate
your company from the accidental or malicious use
for the rest. By controlling access to these devices
and more, DeviceWall will substantially reduce the
security risk of non company devices interfacing with
your network.
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