Storage devices like flash drives are very easy to acquire as their price keeps on dropping. However along side with it is the disadvantage of having sensitive information getting leaked out and misused quite easily too.
A workaround for this might be to have files password encrypted so that no one can easily view it but it this is not totally fool proof when the file needs to be accessed by more than one person. Chances are there is a bad apple among an organization who knows the password and has the intention of using it for his own gain at the company’s expense.
Therefore what would really be nice to have is to make the file unmovable from the computer. In short disable any copy to any usb storage devices. How? Here is how you do it in Microsoft Windows.
1. Open notepad
2. Type in [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\StorageDevicePolicies]
“WriteProtect”=dword:00000001
3. Save as “WriteProtect.reg”
4. Double-click created file
Viola! All removable storage drives should now be write protected.
2 comments
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November 24, 2007 at 9:59 pm
nightfox
Eew.. Notepad?
April 7, 2008 at 10:23 pm
Frank
Thanks for the tip!
You may want to also disable usbl.
In such situations you can use this registry tweak: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\USBSTOR]
“Start”=dword:00000004
To remove such implemented restrictions you can use “WriteProtect”=dword:00000001 in the first case, and “Start”=dword:00000003 in the second.
In network environments you can block or limit the use of usb with group policies and adm templates.
Take a look at this MS kb for more info:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555324
Some desktop management systems may include such ability as well. For example, desktop authority http://www.scriptlogic.com/products/desktopauthority has very powerful usb security features.
I’ve been using it for some time with a great success.
Hope this helps!