A few months back we attended an Innovations Showcase event in Seattle where we met with prospective customers and talked about trends in data security. We were at it again yesterday in Detroit and once again, engaged in good dialogue with organizations seeking to strengthen their data security solutions.
At the last event a lot of the discussion and interest centered on Self Encrypting Drives (SEDs) and the value they offer. At the event this week, the key areas that really resonated with attendees were Removable Media Encryption (RME) and our approach to pre-boot authentication – PBConnex, which offers network-based pre-boot authentication.
With the number of issues happening in market today revolving around the loss of data due to device theft or loss of things such as USB keys, RME was a very significant subject for many of the attendees. While we typically talk about the benefits of Full Disk Encryption (FDE), that was more or less a foregone conclusion with most attendees leveraging a solution to secure their data.
When the conversation shifted to RME, the tone of the room changed and the interest from attendees in the room heightened significantly. Limiting access, securing data once it leaves a device is becoming more of a prevalent issue many companies are facing on a regular basis day-in and day-out. Being able to have a clear and direct dialogue around the benefits of RME and Removable Media Container Encryption (RMCE) was definitely different and an area that we’re more than comfortable addressing.
Our specialty is securing data a rest and RME is right in that sweet spot. It’s a common issue – more common than most are willing to admit – and we have many customers taking advantage of our RME solution today. It’s one of the fundamental approaches to encryption. You need to secure all the information on the device, but it’s also equally important to encrypt any data that leaves the device to ensure that the integrity and security of information remain consistent no matter where it goes.
The discussions with these potential customers will continue and we’re excited to see where it goes. Our ability to add value beyond the device and to ensure security of periphery storage devices are part of a complete, and holistic solution that can be managed seamlessly by the IT administrator. Moreover, it is completely transparent to the end user.
The other key area of interest was our ability to provide significant enhancements around pre-boot authentication with network-based authentication. But we’ll save that for further discussion next week.
It was a good trip to Detroit and we’re looking forward to continuing the dialogues we started this week.
