Encrypting Flash Drive
A USB flash drive or thumbdrive is a portable device for storage and is often used to transfer data from one system to another. The typical thumbdrive does not offer any protection and any lost thumbdrive will result in the leakage of data.
ATTENTION!
NUS staff are required (mandatory) to use thumbdrives with AES 256-bit encryption if the thumbdrive is used to store University Data regardless of the classification of the data.
Given our heterogeneous desktop computing environment with various operating systems and configurations, we have found that BitLocker thumbdrive and Trek thumbdrive are suitable encrypted thumbdrives for typical office use on most standard Windows environments, whereas FileVault thumbdrive is suitable for Macintosh. Staff using the Trek thumbdrive (orange-coloured ThumbDrive Mini by Trek) can continue to use it. Those acquiring a new thumbdrive should ensure it is secured using the encryption software BitLocker (for Windows) or FileVault2 (for Macintosh). The thumbdrives available in the market, which come in different capacity, can generally be used with these encryption software. To ensure staff are readily equipped when they need to store University Data on a thumbdrive, departmental purchases of desktop and notebook computers for staff will include a thumbdrive and services by the vendor to secure it using BitLocker or FileVault2.
| BitLocker thumbdrive | Trek thumbdrive | FileVault thumbdrive (Mac) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| About | BitLocker is a disk encryption feature that can work on any thumbdrive. Built into Windows 8 and Windows 7, it runs seamlessly with the OS.From 2013, all NUS staff who purchase a Windows desktop or notebook are provided a 16GB BitLocker thumbdrive. | Trek ThumbDrive Mini is a USB thumbdrive capable of encryption. In 2010, an orange-coloured 16GB Trek thumbdrive was provided to all NUS staff. | FileVault2 is the technology to use for encrypting the thumbdrive for use on Mac computers.From 2013, all NUS staff who purchase a Mac notebook are provided a 16GB FileVault thumbdrive. |
| Supported OS | Windows 8 and 7 (read/write), Windows Vista and XP (read only) | Windows 8, 7, Vista and XP | Mac OS X Mountain Lion (10.8) and Lion (10.7) |
| Getting Started | You need to setup the thumbdrive first before using it. See the setup for | You need to setup the thumbdrive for use. See the setup here. | You need to setup the thumbdrive for use. See the setup below.
• Lion |
| How To Use | Using the thumbdrive on | Using the thumbdrive. Refer here. | Using the thumbdrive. Refer below.
• Lion |
| Forgotten Password/ Password Reset | Forgotten your password? You can still recover the content by using the recovery key. See the guide below for | If you have forgotten the password, there’s NO option to recover the content. You can only reformat the thumbdrive with a new password. See here. | If you have forgotten the password, there’s NO option to recover the content. You can only reformat the thumbdrive with a new password. Please contact IT Care on how to reformat the thumbdrive. |
| Change Password | To change the password, see the guide below for | To change the password, click here. | To change the password, see the guide below for
• Lion |
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