People usually only think about the security of their data and buy a secure USB stick if they have experienced something unpleasant themselves, or have heard the misery from someone else. Losing personal documents or important administrative data is a major tragedy. Of course there are worse things when you are talking about the health of yourself and your loved ones. But if you have experienced a theft or lost all your company data or personal belongings in a fire, you can be sure from that moment on that you will now store documents and other material differently and better.
Give yourself security with a secure USB stick
Such a stick does not represent a huge burden on your budget. From around seventy euros you can already have a stick with security and four gigabytes of memory. Due to the PIN code that you can set yourself, the stick can only be used if you have entered the code correctly. Someone who steals the stick from your workplace, from your car or from another location, or someone who finds the stick you lost, cannot use the stick, because the information on it is not accessible. However, you may wonder whether you will provide any personal information on the secure USB stick. If you lose the stick and the honest finder would like to return it, that might help.
How much information will fit on your new USB stick?
Just like with normal USB sticks, you can buy a secure USB stick in a variety of gigabytes. The storage capacity is between four and sixty-four gigabytes. The price for the stick with the most storage capacity can amount to just over two hundred euros. To determine how much storage you need, you can look at the documents on your computer to see how large files (or entire folders of files) are.
What data do you store as a company?
For your company, this may include documents such as:
the basic administration, such as current contracts, orders or invoices,
personnel data, such as salary payment orders or personal data of employees upon commencement of employment (diplomas, Curriculum Vitae),
or tax returns, which must be kept for a number of years.
Analyze your most important documents and design a system for yourself so that you regularly refresh the data on your secure USB stick.
Data that you want to secure as a private individual
In private, it often concerns documents that concern you as a person. Think of:
scanned personal documents, such as passport, driver's license and marriage certificate,
administrative data, such as your tax returns and salary slips,
important documents, such as the purchase contract for your house or digital statements from your bank of transfers that are not standard,
photos from the past, which you now store digitally.
When you walk through your house and open drawers or see digital pieces, you quickly know whether they are things that you want to keep on a secure USB stick. To be on the safe side, you can place a stick in a different location, such as with a parent or brother or sister. If something really bad happens, you have secured the data.
Other forms of securely storing and storing information
In addition to the secured USB stick, the iStorage brand also has secured external hard drives that store your data with a PIN code. The advantage of the hard drive is that you have much more storage capacity. While you still have to think in gigabytes with the stick, the external hard drive involves terabytes. The hard drive is housed in a sturdy housing with a waterproof and dust-proof surface, so you can always enter your PIN code. The external hard drives are available up to eight terabytes. This will go a long way and you will feel more reassured now that you have all important company or personal information safely under lock and key.
