How To

Endpoint Security: How to Control USB Devices

Shopping for stronger USB port control? Some criteria to consider when it’s time to rein in thumb drives and other pesky critters

By Rick Cook

stered to a specific user could be allowed.

When shopping for a USB protector, the major things to look for are ease of management and granularity. Because a typical network will have thousands of USB ports, you probably want to be able to manage all of them in a single central location. Ideally, you’ll want something that allows you to manage the ports on a Windows network through the group policy feature or something equally seamless. A few products have the ability to manage the ports on all the networks in the enterprise rather than having to manage each network separately.

Of course USB port control isn’t the be-all and end-all of security, nor can you absolutely guarantee that data can’t be leaked out USB ports. But then that’s true of any other endpoint in the network as well. The point is to do what you can to mitigate the risks of these pesky but oftentimes useful devices.

Rick Cook is a freelance writer based in Phoenix.

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