UK Government Data Missing on Memory Stick

A USB flash drive with tens of thousands of prison and police records on it is missing in the UK. Perhaps Jacqui Smith, the government minister responsible, should have the contractor (PA Consulting) purchase some heavy duty retractable reel lanyards to secure the flash drives.

When a similar incident happened in Australia with a military officer leaving important data behind, I jokingly suggested that military personnel should be issued with a retractable cable clipped to their uniform. The officer could then clip the flash drive to the other end of the cable. If they forgot the flash drive, the cable would pull it out of the computer and retract when they got up.

Reels with nylon cable are commonly issued to staff with security swipe cards, but the clips and cables on most are flimsy. So I found on Amazon.com a stainless steel lanyard sold to sailors for attaching then penknives to. These are much stronger than the nylon cables and they have a secure steel clip on each end. While this started off as a joke, I found that people were ordering batches of these lanyards, presumably to hold flash drives. So I created an Amazon.com store for lanyards.

For those needing more security there are coiled plastic cable lanyards. Smaller ones of these are designed for divers and have a stainless steel clip on each end. Even stronger units are pistol lanyards. Some of these are actually a steel cable coated with plastic. One end of the cable has a wide nylon loop for attaching to a belt and the other a thin loop or a clip. They are designed for military and police handguns. One manufacturer claims that the cable is so strong it can help stop an attacker turning the gun on the owner. Because the lanyard is attached to the butt of the gun, the tension of the cable makes it naturally point away from the holder. As a result it is difficult for someone to point the gun at themselves or for anyone else to do that.

The military lanyards are more than would be needed for holding a flash drive, but then for security personnel, this sort of lanyard might fit better with their uniform than a shiny stainless steel reel. To complement this, there are also Waterproof USB Flash Drives.

See the Amazon.com store:

1. Retractable Lanyards
2. Coiled Lanyards
3. Pistol Lanyards
   
4. USB Flash Drive
5. Waterproof USB Flash Drives

Real uses for flash drive lanyards

It was reported May 17, 2006 that a senior military officer left a CD containing a confidential report in a computer in the at an airport lounge:

... today it emerged Brigadier ... left the results of her investigation in a computer in the Qantas Club lounge at Melbourne Airport on Monday.

Defence Minister Brendan Nelson told reporters he was "angry and disappointed" by the latest bungle, and said he had not seen a copy of the report. ...

In response I wrote a spoof press release about a fictional product:

"... reinforced military specification lanyard which can be attached to a flash drive, or other removable electronic memory device. The other end of the FlashHard is secured to the uniform of the personnel responsible for the information. The FlashHard will first provide a warning if the user attempts to leave their workstation without removing the flash drive. If the user ignores the warning, the FlashHard will automatically eject the flash drive from the workstation and retract it onto the user's uniform. ...".

It turns out that this is a real use. My brother, Dr. John Worthington, is an Educational Consultant and Psychologist, dealing with children. One problem is with some children leaving flash drives in PCs at school. So he suggested they be attached to a retractable reel, as used by staff for swipe cards. As in my spoof release, the drive is tethered to the child. After a few weeks of reminders from the device, the child gets into the habit of checking the flash drive before getting up.

Perhaps this would also work on military personnel, but they may still want a more military looking unit. ;-)