Gone In A Flash Drive? (Or, It's 5 P.M. -- Do You Know Where Your Data Is?)

The proliferation (and uncontrolled use) of portable mass storage devices such as USB "thumb drive" memory sticks, CD/DVDs, smartphones, MP3 players, handhelds, iPods, digital cameras and even portable, high-memory hard drives -- coupled with new-gen data theft techniques such as "pod slurping" or "thumb-sucking" -- all constitute a major threat to network security and could lead to security breaches and data theft on one hand, and viruses and other malware being uploaded to a company's network on the other. Earlier this year, a scientist who worked with DuPont was arrested after he had copied $400 million worth of commercially-sensitive intellectual property from the network.

This type of reality check makes it absolutely crucial for you to know what devices have been or are currently in use on your company's network, putting yourself in the position to head off a network breach at the pass.

To this end, GFI Software has released a free, Web-based tool called EndPointScan that carries out granular checks across all types of ports -- USB, Firewire, Bluetooth, Infrared, PCMIA and Wi-Fi -- and provides thorough information about portable devices on the network by scanning multiple computers simultaneously.

EndPointScan can be accessed at: http://www.endpointscan.com.