How to Protect Yourself from the Ubiquitous USB Flash Drive

Data alone are helpless; some would say worthless. Facts and figures take on meaning only when given context and shared. The distance between data and information is vast, and data must be organized, structured, processed, and interpreted before it becomes useful at all. Thanks to today’s technology, these processes can be performed so quickly that we may be in danger of taking them for granted. The value of these interpretive and communication processes is so great that we must not – must not – allow their routine nature to undermine our appreciation of their worth.

Two factors we might contribute here are a needed reminder of the most widely used common connection that makes data networks and interaction possible, and how simple USB port blocker hardware with keys can secure this vital interaction.

The Ubiquitous USB

All around us, largely out of sight and out of mind, USB ports and connectors are making the digital age possible. Yes, we’re fully conscious of their use as the access points for flash drives, because we interact with those devices in conscious, choice-driven ways on occasions that arise in our work. However, behind every decision to save or share files or information with these convenient tools, there is a host of essential devices using a USB port as their ongoing connection to your computing power. What good would your desktop computer be without a screen on which to view your input and output? Chances are that this screen is connected via a USB port.

And the screens on which we visualize our tasks are barely the beginning. USB ports often connect devices and peripherals as various as printers and plotters; the keyboard, mouse, trackball or touchpad; docking stations; external modems; and digital cameras. These “unconscious” connections have something vitally important in common with the USB port we use with our flash drives: they are entry points for disaster when they are left unprotected without USB port blocker hardware with keys.

The miniature genius of the port itself might begin to impart why USB port blocker hardware with keys is so important to provide.

The USB port is a bus, in electronic terms, or a system that transfers data. Small as a USB port is, it can carry a vastly greater collection of data than a 50-foot motor carriage (from which it got its name) ever carried people. The Universal Serial Bus (USB) has quietly blazed a trail through the digital age. It was always a good idea, and it has continued to be developed and improved, even while maintaining near-universal compatibility.

The most commonly distributed USB ports today are High Speed USB 2.0, with a transmission rate of 480 Mbps, yet the fastest available are USB 3.1, which work more than 20 times faster. Known as SuperSpeed, USB 3.1 can transfer data at speeds as great as 10 GBPS (10,240 Mbps). When you think it through, the faster your transfer speed, the more you need USB port blocker hardware with keys for security.

The Threat of Accessibility

Remaining so widely compatible during so much development and improvement is a bit of unsung genius itself. If they are physically compatible, the parts of a USB-connected system, such the peripheral device, the cable, or even the host computer, can all support different USB standards. To achieve the maximum data rate, all the parts of the system must be capable of the same rate of transfer, of course. Yet, the overall concept isn’t fussy or exclusive, and connections will be made so long as the female and male parts – the receptor and the “plug” – match-up physically. USB port blocker hardware with keys that you’ll find from The Connectivity Center is arrayed so that you can be sure of compatibility, too.

The compatibility of USB has facilitated such wide acceptance that home improvement stores offer replacement electrical outlets with USB ports built-in, circumventing the need for a USB power adapter. Because so many portable devices, such as smartphones, e-book readers, and small tablets, use USB primarily for charging, it makes sense to provide a direct connection at home.

Meantime, the tendency of people – even trusted associates and well-indoctrinated operatives – to charge their personal mobile devices at work by connecting them directly with a USB port in your vital data and information network is a hazard that far outweighs its awareness. This could be the biggest reason to protect it by installing USB port blocker hardware with keys. The personal devices your associates charge or sync at work are exposed to every form of virus and malware on the Web, and this exposure extends directly into the vital information systems you rely on for progress and prosperity.

How could such a vast hazard be so widely ignored? It’s one of the phenomena that arise when human nature meets digital technology. The results of this junction are often counter-intuitive. For example, emails long ago demonstrated an entirely new “space” in which people don’t hesitate to write in a tone they would never use in-person or in a traditional letter – a phenomenon we might call “the illusion of solitude.” So also, the true nature of the cybersecurity threat is hugely mistaken, as misperceived as the danger of airplane flight versus the drive to the airport. In much the same way, only a minuscule part of the $170 billion spent annually on cybersecurity goes to providing USB port blocker hardware with keys, even though the USB ports are physical, visible, and nearly universal.

Selecting the Right USB Port Blocker Hardware with Keys

The Connectivity Center’s Smart Keeper collection of computer and laptop security devices protects the ports through which some of the biggest, most historic cyber-attacks were perpetrated, and where even casual contamination occurs somewhere every hour of every day. This collection includes our Link Lock connectors and the Link Lock Hub, which not only serve as secure USB connections, but also lock your devices so that they cannot be removed without authorized access.

The Link Lock Hub is secured using a Smart Keeper USB Port Lock Professional in conjunction with a Smart Keeper USB Port Lock Key. The Professional Series key comprises an ergonomic, retractable housing with anti-static rubber grip, LED light for low visibility work areas, and dual-retractors – main and peripheral – for reaching port locks in confined spaces. The key patterns are strictly controlled, yet you can order duplicate keys to suit your own security authorization structure.

The Connectivity Center uses its unique perspective to invent and curate a virtually boundless collection of cybersecurity devices that enable you to achieve the wealth of advantages that digital technology offers, while eliminating the hazards. Having grown up at the junction between computers and users, ever since mainframes gave way to stacks of servers and personal computing put the power of digital technology – along with the security hazards – in the hands of nearly everyone, it’s our nature to stay on top of the factors that affect this essential connection.