The Top Uses for SecureDrives at Colleges and Universities

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Published:
Feb 22, 2019
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Updated:
Jan 16, 2024
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Top Uses of SecureDrives for Universities

Universities continue to be a prime target for hackers due to the enormous amounts of personally identifiable information stored. While all schools are targets for hackers, it is the research universities which are the high-priority targets. The cost of data breaches for universities in the United States is an average of $245 for each lost record.

Our line of SecureDrive KP and BT hardware encrypted drives offer a solution for students, faculty, and Information Technology departments alike. Here are the top uses for SecureDrives at the academic level:

Students

When you use a Secure Drive BT, it automatically locks when you move 10 ft. away from it for more than five seconds. Students who walk away from their work in the library or a classroom for only a few minutes can rest assured that their information is safe.

Throughout your college career, you will inevitably have to take part in a group project. It can be difficult to find a mutual opening in everyone’s schedules, making using a local device the ideal solution to share information. When you use SecureDrive BT, your data is kept safe from breaches that commonly occur in online servers. When one group member can’t make a meeting, they can enact user authentication on their phone so other students can access the information on the drive. The BT model has remote management capabilities that offer geo-fencing and time-fencing. This allows group members to access the data on the drive during pre-determined times and only in specific places.

Faculty

College registration requires that students give personal data to the University including their social security number, address, and even bank account number. While this information is kept on a database, it can easily fall into the wrong hands. A prime example is this data leak of a spreadsheet containing private information of 40 students dealing with some type of traumatic circumstance.By using a SecureDrive, there is no chance that information could accidentally slip. With the KP model, a user must know the unique PIN number to punch into the onboard keypad. After 10 consecutive login attempts, the data will automatically be cleared from the drive.

Faculty also use databases to distribute department-specific information to each other. By using the SecureDrive, faculty members can keep one drive per department which contains their vital information, preventing any data loss due to an online portal malfunction. The SecureDrive BT also offers remote management with an option to force a password reset. This prevents a disgruntled employee from harming the department’s important files.

Information Technology (IT) Departments

The main goal of any college’s IT department is to keep all data safe and the school’s network drives and systems running efficiently. Each of these systems has its own unique makeup and passwords. IT specialists are consistently developing new security features as well as performing updates on commonly-used servers. All of this development and coding can be kept secure using a SecureDrive. On our KP model, managers can keep their unique PIN private to only the upper management. When student workers need access to the information, the power is left in the hands of the experienced full-time employees.

Common Issues

Something that both students and faculty are guilty of doing is leaving themselves logged on to an on-campus computer. This leaves your desktop files, email, and any other saved files open to whoever uses that computer next. A SecureDrive BT can only be accessed and unlocked with a mobile phone app. By skipping the login on a campus-database, you not only save yourself from a security nightmare, but can take comfort in the fact that your work will be saved on the Drive, and not lost due to a malfunction with the campus server.

Multiple Options for Security

In addition to our SecureDrives, we also produce Secure USBs in both KP and BT models. The USB is equipped with the same security features as the drive including a unique PIN for the KP and remote management for the BT. The Secure USB is a portable and convenient option for students who are constantly on-the-go. A study by the University of Illinois found that the majority of people will pick up a USB that is found on the ground and plug it in. With the Secure USB line, even if you lose your device, the security features installed in the USB will prevent anyone from accessing your information.

While campus networks offer convenience, the risk of a security breach or website failure is ever-present. The SecureDrive KP and BT offer the highest level of security with Federal Information Processing Standardization (FIPS) 140-2 certification. These external hard drives put students and faculty alike in control of their information.

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Data Security

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