iPods and USB Drives Pose Network Security Risk

A lot of time, money, effort and other resources go into securing and maintaining security of most corporate networks and servers. There are typically many layers of security including perimeter firewalls and intrusion detection systems (IDS), email server antivirus and even antivirus programs and personal firewalls installed on individual computers. The security is primarily employed to keep the bad guys out, but in some cases it is also designed to make sure that the internal employees don't cause any problems, whether accidentally or on purpose. With the recent advent of USB hard drives and portable MP3 players and digital music devices like the Apple iPod some employees may be circumventing all of that carefully planned security. Employees might accidentally introduce malware into the network by connecting such devices to their computers or they may possibly steal trade secrets or remove or copy confidential files by transferring them to these small portable devices. These devices represent one of the next big issues that network and security administrators need to attack to keep their environments protected. For some more insight on the problems presented by these devices see this CNet article: Analyst: iPods a network security risk