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Portable Storage Devices - Privacy Survey - in pdf format (546kb)
(This document requires the use of Adobe Acrobat Reader). Office of the Victorian Privacy Commissioner, December 2011. "... In 2008 Privacy Victoria undertook a survey into the Victorian Public Sector's use of portable storage devices (PSDs). The survey found that the Victorian Public Sector generally handled PSDs poorly. This potentially posed a serious security risk.
One of the most serious issues was the scarcity of meaningful policies to control the use of PSDs in the surveyed organisations. This was specifically addressed with the release of Use of Portable Storage Devices – a guide to policy development in August 2009.
This is a follow-up survey, undertaken to gauge the degree to which organisations had improved their management of the use of PSDs. In addition, there has been a series of technological, behavioural and procedural developments which are discussed in turn in this report..."
Further information on Portable Storage Devices - Privacy Survey - in pdf format (546kb)
Last updated: 1 February 2012Related Links
- Portable Storage Devices continue to pose privacy risks for the public sector - media release
- Office of the Victorian Privacy Commissioner, Media Release, 30 January 2012. "The Victorian Privacy Commissioner today released the results of the Portable Storage Devices Privacy Survey 2011. The results of the 2011 Portable Storage Devices Privacy Survey, reveal that a disappointing number of organisations have showed no improvement as compared with the 2008 results, the Victorian Privacy Commissioner announced today. The Victorian Privacy Commissioner, Helen Versey, said the 2011 follow up survey was designed to gauge the degree to which organisations first surveyed in 2008 had improved their management of portable storage devices (PSDs), as well as examine how new devices such as tablets were being managed. 'Seven organisations, including three local councils, still had no documented policies and procedures to control the use of PSDs, despite the fact that I recommended in the first survey report that, at a minimum, organisations require them,' Ms Versey said..."
- Use of Portable Storage Devices: Privacy Survey - in pdf format (345kb)
- (This document requires the use of Adobe Acrobat Reader). Office of the Victorian Privacy Commissioner, January 2009. "They are everywhere - people plugged into their iPods, using their BlackBerries and iPhones. USB keys conveniently carry PowerPoint presentations and documents from place to place. These small devices can be slipped into a pocket or bag. But these handy little objects are also Portable Storage Devices (PSDs) which have the capacity to store entire databases. While laptops have long been identified as potential data security risks, PSDs can pose an even greater problem – they are relatively cheap, attractive items which are widely owned and much harder to detect because of their size. And they are easily lost or just forgotten. Late last year it was reported that an unencrypted USB key belonging to the Australian Federal Police was left in a publicly used computer terminal in a hotel in Nepal. The key contained highly sensitive personal information and images. In the UK an unencrypted USB key containing the personal information of 12 million people from a Government computer system was lost in a pub car park. These cases vividly illustrate the problem. Although there have been some studies identifying PSDs as a major security risk that is not being addressed this is an area where there is little public guidance from privacy regulators. I decided to conduct a survey to assess how the Victorian public sector is handling the growth in the use of PSDs in the workplace. I expected the survey to identify some good practices as well as areas of concern..."
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