The security firm warned that USB drives, along with other plug-and-play removable media, can connect directly into workstations and function without IT authorisation or knowledge.
The current breed of thumb-sized devices can hold up to 8GB of data, giving an attacker the ability to import unauthorised data, unlicensed software, malicious code, games, screensavers and other inappropriate material.
More importantly, these devices increase the risk of intellectual property and proprietary information theft.
"Organisations of all sizes are scrambling to protect their sensitive information through security solutions designed for networks," said Erik Johannisson, chief technology officer at Pointsec.
"But port security is one avenue of data loss at the endpoint that many IT managers are only just becoming aware of through recent data breaches.
"The risk of data loss through unprotected ports and plug-and-play storage devices is a serious concern among all organisations in possession of confidential data."
Johannisson warned that, once this sensitive information is copied through a port to a storage device, whether by a malicious insider or a well-meaning insider who is unaware of the security policy, it becomes vulnerable to loss, theft and unauthorised use.
Pointsec Device Protector combines port and storage device management from Reflex Magnetics' DiskNet Pro with media encryption to protect removable storage media and email in transit by providing automatic real-time encryption.
Network managers can now control employee use of personal removable media devices such as USB drives, Bluetooth smartphones, digital cameras and music players that have wired or wireless connections to work PCs.
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