Fourteen members of SESTA (SanDisk Enterprise Solutions Technology Alliance) today issued an open letter calling upon IT professionals to implement improved security for USB storage devices without hampering worker productivity or banning the use of these powerful devices. The letter includes industry data and simple steps that, when implemented along with secure USB flash drives, will tighten USB security and help protect organizations from malware, theft, insider abuse and other data loss.

Recent events indicate an increase in the prevalence of malware infections resulting from the use of an unsecured and unprotected USB flash drives. These incidents, combined with multiple reports of data loss resulting from improper use of storage devices, demonstrate a need for technologies that help IT professionals protect and secure sensitive data. Rather than banning USB devices altogether the letter states that organizations should promote productivity by doing more in proactively protecting against issues that could arise.

The letter states that: "Organizations of all industries need to implement policies, but they also need technologies that ensure the highest degree of security without impacting the productivity and mobility benefits of USB drives, including antivirus, encryption, password protection and a centrally-managed security solution...in order to mitigate risks, organizations not only need better policies, they need better enforcement of enabling technologies."

The full text of the letter may be found at http://www.sandisk-enterprise.com/openletter and is signed by the following organizations.

• SanDisk (sandisk.com/enterprise)
• Centennial Software, part of FrontRange Solutions (frontrange.com)
• ControlGuard (controlguard.com)
• CoSoSys (EndpointProtector.com)
• DeviceLock (devicelock.com/dl/)
• Diversinet (diversinet.com)
• Dmailer (dmailer.com)
• Lumension (lumension.com)
• McAfee (mcafee.com)
• Safend (safend.com)
• Secuware (secuware.com)
• Vericept (vericept.com)
• WinMagic (winmagic.com)
• Xenocode (xenocode.com)

About SESTA
The SanDisk Enterprise Security Technology Alliance (SESTA) is a coalition of companies that deliver IT solutions for the secure corporate environment. SESTA provides a platform for testing security solutions for interoperability with complimentary secure USB drives and management solutions from SanDisk Enterprise, creating an ecosystem of compatible products and services. SESTA promotes the development of strategic and technology alliances for the benefit of mutual customers. For more information, visit http://www.sandisk.com/Oem/Default.aspx?CatID=1555.