Re: Locking USB Ports

[John Jones <chianime@xxxxxxxxx>]

Look into Data Loss Prevention software.  Policy driven controls on what
devices are and are not allowed.

We're piloting McAfee's Total Protection for Data (formerly Safeboot).  In
addition to DLP it includes hard drive and file/folder encryption,
integration with McAfee's ePO management console (good if you use them for
AV/Anti-spyware), reporting capabilities (good for auditors), and so on.
The hard drive encryption also means safe harbor in case the PC itself is
stolen and happened to contain PII. Price per seat is very reasonable for a
largish company; I don't know what the price is for smaller firms.

I'd advise ignoring those who would simply superglue or otherwise attempt to
disable USB ports.  That is a short-term solution at best.  Besides most
peripherals like printers using USB for conenctivity, mice and keyboards are
rapidly dropping PS/2 ports in favor of USB and more and more motherboards
don't even offer the PS/2 ports any more.

There are plenty of other DLP offerings; a side by side comparison would be
a good idea.

On Tue, Mar 10, 2009 at 12:11 PM, Mike <koldark@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> I don't know the exact requirements the tech staff is looking for, but they
> are looking for a way to lock out USB sticks on the PCs. What have you
> found
> that works well?
>
> --
> Mike Wills
> Midrange Programmer/Analyst
> http://mikewills.info
> http://www.linkedin.com/in/mikewills
> --
> This is the PC Technical Discussion for iSeries Users (PcTech) mailing list
> To post a message email: PcTech@xxxxxxxxxxxx
> To subscribe, unsubscribe, or change list options,
> visit: http://lists.midrange.com/mailman/listinfo/pctech
> or email: PcTech-request@xxxxxxxxxxxx
> Before posting, please take a moment to review the archives
> at http://archive.midrange.com/pctech.