There are certainly benefits and advantages to being able to
carry massive amounts of files and data in your pocket. However,
the small size and gargantuan storage capacities also make
portable media very easy to lose or misplace, and a prime target
for criminals. Whether it is a USB thumb drive, an external hard
drive, a smartphone, a tablet, or some other device, it is not
uncommon for people to have 32GB, 64GB, or even a terabyte of
data on them. The data could be a music library or albums of
personal photos, or it could be an entire patient or student
database–complete with Social Security numbers, driver’s license
numbers, home addresses, and other valuable information.
According to the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, a non-profit
organization dedicated to protecting consumer privacy and
raising awareness of privacy concerns, there were 142 reported
data breach incidents in 2010 involving portable storage
devices. Those incidents led to the compromise or exposure of
nearly 7 million records. That amounts t