ClearCrypt and GDPR

GDPR is now part of the business landscape, and the penalties for data breaches seen in the last few months have been conversation stopping: “They were fined how much?”

Any personal data that is collected by an organisation must be protected. Data is classified under GDPR as personal if it can be used to directly or indirectly identify someone. This goes beyond the top-level data items such as name and address, to include data that if joined together could uniquely identify someone. In reality, this means any data held about a person needs to be treated as personal data and protected. Encryption of all data held is a vital part of protecting it from unauthorised access. This applies for data that is at rest on servers, moving over a network, or semi-mobile on portable storage devices. ClearCrypt and Renaissance can deliver everything you need to provide proper encrypted compact storage.

Portable Data Devices

High-speed broadband, 4G data networks, and increasingly 5G provide good coverage across Ireland and the UK. However, delivering full coverage is still an ongoing project and will be for a while. For this reason, and others such as security in some locations preventing Internet access, there will be times when knowledge workers will need to have their data with them. For many, this means having a copy on a portable storage device. Globally it is estimated that 35% of all employees store some data on a USB drive and that 20 million of these drives are lost every year.

IT departments can implement restrictions to prevent the copying of data to portable storage. In reality, we know that it happens and people will find ways to circumvent any restrictions in place.  Rather than trying to prevent the use of portable storage devices, a better strategy is to accept that people want them. Businesses should provide portable storage that is secure by design. ClearCrypt storage solutions meet this business need perfectly.

Having secure portable storage units available allows access to data in environments where access to the Internet is prohibited, or in areas with weak mobile network signal.

ClearCrypt Solutions

ClearCrypt provides a range of portable storage products that have built-in hardware-based AES 256-bit encryption. The storage devices cannot be used without enabling this encryption by setting a pin code on a numeric keypad that all the products have. Once set, the pin code has to be entered when the storage device is mounted on a PC before any data stored on it can be accessed. When removed or dismounted from a PC, the ClearCrypt devices auto-lock, and the unique pin code needs to be entered again before they can be used.

The hardware encryption provided on each storage unit is much stronger than software-based encryption that is sometimes used on standard USB storage devices. This means that the ClearCrypt storage devices are secure enough to use with data from sensitive sources such as that generated in healthcare.

See the full product range at the ClearCrypt site.

Conclusion

Mitigating the risk from unauthorised access to personally identifiable data is a crucial part of GDPR compliance and for general network security. Data will travel along with business staff. In many cases, this will be via portable storage devices like USB drives and portable SSD drives. Accepting this will happen means that it is best to provide proper encryption for these mobile storage devices. ClearCrypt is the answer to this need. Contact Renaissance today to find out how to ensure your data travels securely.