Anyone here used Ironkey Enterprise USB sticks?

[Mark R]

We've just been told that at work all USB sticks are going to be blocked, except for work provided Ironkey Enterprise sticks. This is in response to the fear that confidential information might be accidentally be lost, and not due to fear of data theft. In practice, no one actually takes sensitive data off-site because there is no need to, and it isn't really practical to save sensitive data to a stick anyway. However, management have decreed that no unencrypted data can be taken off site, whether sensitive or not.

This affects me as I regularly lecture and give presentations, so need to be able to take my slides, notes, etc. from my work machine and either load it on my personal laptop, or onto a machine at the other site. USB sticks are the most practical way to do this.

However, IT are asking for comments before they go ahead with the plan. So, I'm interested to know if people have used them. If so, can you answer the following questions.

1. Can these sticks be used on Mac and Windows computers? Even when you don't have admin privileges? And even if the software hasn't been preinstalled? The website is unclear on this point.

2. Can the sticks be used outside of work? The initial project brief from IT suggests that they will only work on employer owned on-site equipment. If that is the case, then the sticks are useless?

2b. The ironkey website suggests that the sticks can be used if you have an active internet connection. But what happens if you don't have a connection? Is the stick just a paperweight?

3. If I need an extra stick, can I just buy one? I worked at a different place a year ago, and they insisted on using only employer-provided USB sticks. The problem was that there was a 2 year waiting list for a stick, as the employer had run out of sticks, and there was no money in the IT budget to buy more. New users could only get a stick, when a previous user no longer needed theirs and handed it back.

 

[IronDrew]

Hi Mark,

In response to your questions.
One thing to note is that most of my answers here are specific to IronKey Enterprise, which enables management policies to be pushed to the device. Your IT department controls what these policies are.

(Yes, I do work for IronKey).

1. Can these sticks be used on Mac and Windows computers? Even when you don't have admin privileges? And even if the software hasn't been preinstalled? The website is unclear on this point.

Yes, IronKey Enterprise device can be used on both Mac and Windows.
If you are using XP in Non-admin mode, you may want to ask your IT dept for an additional driver to help performance. Mac support goes back to OS X 10.4. There are a couple of onboard applications which your Admin may or may not have given you via policy that are Windows only.

2. Can the sticks be used outside of work? The initial project brief from IT suggests that they will only work on employer owned on-site equipment. If that is the case, then the sticks are useless?

In general your IronKey should be able to be used anywhere that you can use a USB drive. Now your IT department MAY have locked things down via policy to perhaps only allow use on your corporate network. That type of policy governance is possible with IronKey Enterprise...but that is a function of the policy created by the Admin, not of the device itself.

2b. The ironkey website suggests that the sticks can be used if you have an active internet connection. But what happens if you don't have a connection? Is the stick just a paperweight?

When you are unlocking your IronKey Enterprise device, it pings back to the management service. There is a maximum number of consecutive unlocks that can be done offline, before the device must check back in with the service before it can be unlocked.

3. If I need an extra stick, can I just buy one? I worked at a different place a year ago, and they insisted on using only employer-provided USB sticks. The problem was that there was a 2 year waiting list for a stick, as the employer had run out of sticks, and there was no money in the IT budget to buy more. New users could only get a stick, when a previous user no longer needed theirs and handed it back.

If your company is using IronKey Enterprise, than it is best to go through your normal purchasing process.

We do have a separate product (IronKey Personal) which offers the same security without any of the above mentioned policy controls. This can be purchased from our website, or Amazon.com, etc, etc.

Please visit the IronKey Forum https://forum.ironkey.com if you have more questions.

 

[smakme7757]

I'd say Drew has summed it up pretty well.

I have an Ironkey (several actually) myself and i can tell you they are a great piece of technology. As long as your employer isn't too restricting with their policies your Ironkey will be just as useful as any other USB storage device, but extremely more secure and robust.