What do you carry on your usb drive?  You know, the little device, sometimes referred to as a thumb drive or flash drive.  If you are like me, the contents change constantly.

Have you ever considered your reaction should you lose it, or it gets stolen?  Perhaps you have private information, tax forms, client information – most certainly your home address and contact information can be found on your drive.  Perhaps you even have more sensitive information like accounts and passwords.

I’ve never lost one (knocking on wood!).  I have, however, misplaced one for a time, unsure of exactly its whereabouts. Immediate note to clients: none of your data was ever at risk.  I was reassured and had peace of mind because I use disk encryption software to protect data on my thumb drive.  Easy to use, my disk encryption software utilizes 256 bit AES encryption (NIST-certified AES 256-bit encryption).  With that level of encryption, depending on the number and type of characters in your password, it would take years to brute force attack the file to open it.

By the way, the same thought applies to laptops (even desktops in the case of home theft).  Have you considered what might be lost should your laptop be stolen?

If you carry files and data on your portable drive that you would rather keep private, speak with me about encryption options.  There’s no need to lose sleep over not knowing where your data will end up.