Illustration: Mark MatchoOne weak spot on any modern PC is the humble USB port. Tiny portable storage devices, like an iPod, can use the port to suck down massive amounts of valuable data, an activity called podslurping.
Some companies install software on their PCs that can prevent podslurping. These programs give administrators the power to decide which devices an employee can connect to a PC, and enforce the restrictions even when a company laptop goes home or on the road with an employee.
SmartLine's DeviceLock 6 ($35) additionally provides control over what those devices can do. For instance, the administrator could allow you to charge your iPod by hooking it to the USB port, but not let you use it to copy files. DeviceLock can also lock down CD and DVD drives, Bluetooth connections, FireWire ports, even the parallel port. And it can log the file names of every document you copy to a drive, or it can make what SmartLine calls "shadow copies" of everything you drop onto the drive. If an employee is later suspected of stealing data, the shadow copies provide the hard evidence.
Safend's USB Port Protector ($32 per user) can encrypt files copied to a portable drive so someone who finds it on the floor of a taxi or hotel room can't open those files.
If you're annoyed that your company restricts USB access, consider this: It's better than being the person who allows company data to be stolen.
Andrew Brandt
Andrew Brandt is a contributing editor for PC World. E-mail him at privacywatch@pcworld.com.
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