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Your Thoughts on the Future of USB?
Quite simply, it looks as though USB is coming to an end, at least for commercial and higher security purposes, not only because of the virus and other risks but because of the threat to security that USB devices pose whenever they are plugged in. For instance, a passer-by could simply walk into a commercial business or even a school, insert a USB removable device and transfer possibly thousands of critical documents and files and leave within a few minutes.
It is because of this that the Military of Defense have banned the use of such devices and I've no doubt many other companies will have too. All that need be done is disable the USB ports on the computer and in doing so prevent their use. It goes as far as to say that there is even software [mainly LAN based] that can monitor the activity of such USB ports; such as the example below:
http://www.devicelock.com/
Another interesting piece of information that would seem to support my prediction is this article:
http://www.geek.com/articles/gadgets/usb-stick-fingerprint-security...
It highlights just how easy it is for thumbprint protected devices to be bypassed. Some of them can be accessed simply by using a free, open source piece of software. As, secure USB devices are a combination of three major components; the flash memory, the fingerprint reader, and the microcontroller for controlling access along with pre-installed software, the microcontroller checks for a valid reading from the fingerprint sensor and then allows access to the protected flash memory. However, it would seem that you do not need a valid fingerprint reading to gain access to the protected memory. Instead you can use the software 'PLscsi' to send a Command Descriptor Block and switch the protected memory to non-protected. It was also discovered that the microcontroller and software on the device don’t always decide on the right to access, with that task falling to the software running on the PC’s OS in some cases.
Meanwhile, the technology world has been working on wireless USB: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless_USB]
It would seem to me that this technology is practically useless considering what has been said and with the drastic increase in the concern for the safety and security of documents and files..
Where is the future for USB?
Is there any alternative?
- daveyy.
It is because of this that the Military of Defense have banned the use of such devices and I've no doubt many other companies will have too. All that need be done is disable the USB ports on the computer and in doing so prevent their use. It goes as far as to say that there is even software [mainly LAN based] that can monitor the activity of such USB ports; such as the example below:
http://www.devicelock.com/
Another interesting piece of information that would seem to support my prediction is this article:
http://www.geek.com/articles/gadgets/usb-stick-fingerprint-security...
It highlights just how easy it is for thumbprint protected devices to be bypassed. Some of them can be accessed simply by using a free, open source piece of software. As, secure USB devices are a combination of three major components; the flash memory, the fingerprint reader, and the microcontroller for controlling access along with pre-installed software, the microcontroller checks for a valid reading from the fingerprint sensor and then allows access to the protected flash memory. However, it would seem that you do not need a valid fingerprint reading to gain access to the protected memory. Instead you can use the software 'PLscsi' to send a Command Descriptor Block and switch the protected memory to non-protected. It was also discovered that the microcontroller and software on the device don’t always decide on the right to access, with that task falling to the software running on the PC’s OS in some cases.
Meanwhile, the technology world has been working on wireless USB: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless_USB]
It would seem to me that this technology is practically useless considering what has been said and with the drastic increase in the concern for the safety and security of documents and files..
Where is the future for USB?
Is there any alternative?
- daveyy.
Tags: commercial, documents, files, security, usb, virus
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Zune80 on -
As a seven year Navy vet I can tell you that what the military does for security precautions does not necessarily translate in the the civilian world. The military always takes extreme measures for things like this and with good reason.
USB is NOT going away anytime in the foreseeable future. The 3.0 spec hasn't even been released fully to the retail sector and there is more in the works beyond that.
It's up to the individual to protect their systems from tampering etc. Using your logic we should ban or do away with automobiles because it's possible for anyone to hotwire, steal, drive drunk, and kill innocent people. If that risk exists we should therefore ban autos. Doesn't make sense does it?
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Permalink Reply by David King on -
I agree but if there are better ways to transfer data whilst protecting it at the same time then surely that is much better? I can see why USB devices would be hard to move away from seeing as so many people rely on them these days, but I'm confident if a safer, more secure way of transferring data were to be developed, perhaps with an increased speed, perhaps wireless firewire then the majority of people would move on.
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Permalink Reply by Zune80 on
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Technology always advances, and new and better ways of doing things will certainly present themselves at some point. However, this process takes years of planning and testing. Development of the Standards takes forever...just look at the networking standard for "N". The standards committee is taking way to longer to sign off on the final standard. It REALLY irritates me that the manufacturers put out devices using the "N draft" that may or may not work in the final specs. It's an abuse of people's money.
They should have signed off on the specs a long time ago, and the hardware vendors should not jump the gun. Both are to blame here, but my point is that even when you have new and better...it takes a long time to get it into place. That's why USB 2.0 and eventually USB 3.0 will be around for years to come.
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Permalink Reply by David King on
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I completely agree with you, it irritates me aswell that they can't just check before, like you said, a complete waste of money, and sometimes a lot of money aswell. I've no doubt USB will be around for some time to come yet, I was just speculating as to the future of it.
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Permalink Reply by Greg De Santis on -
Only referring to the question "Is there any alternative to USB" - right now there is eSATA (External SATA connections) devices such as hard drives, flash drives, tape drives and multi-card readers are already out there. But that may only be for storage media, and probably not for other peripherals such as mice, keyboards and others.
Wicked fast products like the OCZ OCZESATATHR32G Throttle eSATA Flash Drive - 32GB are available today for $106.00
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.as...
And if you do not currently have any eSATA ports, you always can get an addon cards for both your desktop and laptop, such as the StarTech CBESATA2 2-Port eSATA Cardbus Adapter for the laptop for $40.00:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.as...
or for the desktop: StarTech 2 Port PCI Express eSATA Controller Adapter Card Model PEXESATA2 ($37.00)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815158088&...
I am thankful that USB 3.0 is coming out before the end of the year (shipping in the newly built December 09 computers) and the perspective speeds along with the backward compatibility that it is supposed to promise.
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Permalink Reply by David King on
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I've heard about eSATA, I think Chris mentioned it somewhere along the lines. I'm interested in its capabilities and the speed USB 3.0 will be able to offer too, thanks for that. (:
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