Hardware loss is perhaps the biggest threat to corporate security as the loss of a notebook computer or storage device could effectively give a hacker full access to not only files contained within the device, but also possibly full unabridged access to the corporate network.

Today’s growing trend for home workers and road warriors is a concerning reality for most major organizations. The necessity for people to work flexibly means that adequate security policies are suffering, and as a direct result data theft and loss is on the rise.

Shockingly enough, the growth in the trend of data loss is not changing the way information is being stored. Whilst many companies have security policies that refer to remote access, these documents tend to be very vague and ambiguous when talking about file-storage and the transport of files to remote locations.

Hardware loss is a reality, and the risks can be mitigated by ensuring appropriate file and system security is used to ensure that should a system get into the hands of anyone other than intended, it will be unbootable and unrecoverable. This ensures that data theft is negligible and the only financial implications will be the cost in replacing the hardware.

Whilst it is not always this simple, the reality is that any sensitive data should always be encrypted to ensure that only those intended recipients have access to it. This extends to ensuring thumb drives, notebooks, and media such as CD and DVD’s are encrypted with appropriately secure algorithm.

One of the best-known encryption algorithms currently available is known as AES. This is an encryption technique, which is successfully managed by the military grade,  freely available  Gold Lock Desktop encryption suite. This all in one solution ensures that organizations can encrypt files and email transfer, ensuring that risk factors are mitigated and cost implications due to data loss or theft are negligible.