Security policies: portable applications

Everyone has their own preferences in choosing applications: a favorite browser or instant messenger, media player or email client, etc. Many users are so accustomed to them in everyday life that they feel uncomfortable without access to their favorite programs at work or in college. As a result, they come to use the portable applications which we will discuss in this article.

Portable applications, stored on removable media, are very convenient: they need no installation and can be used in almost any environment. For users, this means their favorite tools are always at hand, and ready to do anything from playing movies and music to analyzing and restoring the system.

However, such applications can also pose a threat to information security. Users who do not have local administrator rights cannot install software on the PC, but they can bypass this restriction by taking advantage of portable applications that do not require installation. Since these applications are mobile and are stored on removable media, they often go undetected by auditing applications on the LAN. This makes it more difficult to investigate incidents related to the use of portable applications as the information about removable media and software installed on it is often unavailable to the IT security specialists.

Case study

An analytical company engaged in processing large amounts of personal information offered part-time work to students and non-IT-specialists: a couple of days a week they would transfer data from paper into electronic forms, recheck the available data for errors and contact people for further information.

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