usb authentication

[s1nbad]

hi folks, new here, so not sure if posted in right area, here goes anyway. i am looking for some sort of software package that can prevent a user from from inserting an unauthorised memory stick into a company pc. i have never heard of any software like this, but i am sure there is something out there, any help much appreciated tks.

[tguy]

Most machines that USB support will allow you to turn off USB ports in the BIOS. You could try their first.

Otherwise, Group Policies or software like the XP_SecurityConsole might do what you want.

[s1nbad]

yeah i know this sounds wierd, but its my boss that wants this and he does not want to disable the usb function, he just wants to make sure they are only using compnay usb memory sticks, personally i dont see the dif, but hes the boss.

[Martin L]

did some googling for you:

USB "thumb drives" drive some security folks crazy because they're so small physically and so big storage-wise; what's to keep people from popping a USB drive into a USB slot, copying corporate data and walking out the door?

For the USB-paranoid, SP2 includes an ability to let users read data from a USB drive, but not write data to that drive. It's a simple Registry change.Ê

First, create a whole new key: HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control \ StorageDevicePolicies.

Then create a REG_DWORD entry in it called WriteProtect. Set it to 1 and you'll be able to read from USB drives but not write to them.

moved to correct forum