How to Secure Your USB Drive

One day, you will be able to transport and access gigabytes of data in a matter of seconds with the help of

future cloud technology - that day is not yet here. Luckily, thanks to transportable data storage devices, one can carry gigabytes of data with them and access it on any computer in a matter of minutes if not seconds. However, unlike cloud technology which uses encryption to secure your data in the cloud, your average USB thumb drive is not secure!

The difference between a secure USB and non-secure USB can change your life. Your Personal data is more valuable than you may think, and according to statistics, 7 out 9 people who find lost USB drives will not hesitate on accessing/viewing your personal data. To make matters worse, if a criminal ends up finding your misplaced USB flash drive, you could end up having your identity stolen.

If saving money is of little concern to you, then purchasing a USB storage device already equipped with encryption can be the best option for you, as these devices can secure your portable data without little or no setup. Additionally, these devices use different platforms for securing personal data. Some devices authenticate users through biometrics with integrated fingerprint readers- these devices are perhaps the priciest in their respective category. Others simply require you to set up password-protection through integrated software. Finally, some USB flash drives have a physical keypad on the device itself which requires you to enter numerical codes - sort like an ATM pin - in order to gain access to your locked data.

Consequently, whether it's your bank statements, credit card statements, financial spreadsheets or your diabolical plan to take over the earth, chances are you have - at one time or another - saved such information on external portable drives. Despondently, it's also highly plausible that you have not considered password-protecting that drive - or perhaps the individual sensitive files stored within the device. Luckily, there are multiple options and tricks you can utilize to secure your USB flash drive. The first option is to actually purchase a drive which has integrated encryption. The second option would be to purchase USB locking software and install it on your existing USB flash drive - a cheaper alternative from the first one.

Now, if you don't have money to burn and would like to look into a cheaper option for securing your USB flash device, then it's better to purchase a third-party application. There are only a handful of applications which can reliably offer you foolproof security for your portable data - perhaps the most popular security application has to be USB Secure. These data security applications can be installed directly on external drives and most of them are PC independent - they require no software installation on the other end.