Imation Upgrades Defender Collection Software Suite

Central management enhancements include the addition of forensic-level auditing and reporting at the file level.

Government, enterprises, and small and midsized businesses have new tools for safeguarding critical data on removable storage media with enhancements to Imation's Defender Collection Software Suite.

At the 2011 Storage Visions Conference held this week, Imation announced additional Defender Collection software functionality that allows for central management, PC-based removable storage management, storage device management and encryption.

Part of the full line of Imation Defender Collection secure data-storage solutions, the Defender Collection Software Suite offers the ability to customize and enforce device authentication and security policies and the capability to deploy and manage removable storage devices.

The Defender Collection Software Suite has options for reporting, as well as the ability to recover passwords, manage keys, and remotely disable lost or stolen devices. Enhancements to the Defender Collection Software include features for both central management (available in Defender Collection Control Server) and PC-based removable storage and device management (available in Defender Collection Control Client).

Central-management enhancements include the addition of forensic-level auditing and reporting at the file level for compliance in regulated industries. In addition, a new "remote kill" function allows for disabling devices that have been lost or stolen, and distributed provisioning allows for management and configuration of multiple devices in remote locations. Defender Collection Control Server also manages other secure storage products and devices, including Defender Collection optical media.

PC-based device-level management enhancements include the ability to define what types of removable storage can be used or blocked on a given system, allowing IT and security officers to prevent data theft and avoid viruses on USB flash, optical, removable hard disk, flash memory cards and even MP3 players.

The Defender Collection Control Client defines how removable storage devices can be used, granting full access, read-only or forced encryption, giving administrators the flexibility to grant or deny access to specific files without affecting access to other files on the device.

Control Client software includes functionality to control the types of files that can be copied to removable storage devices, either by all or part of the file name or file extension, and administrators will have the ability to deploy antivirus or force a scan prior to reading any removable storage device.

In addition, the Defender Collection includes secure optical media, USB flash and USB hard drives, with options for antivirus, strong password, fingerprint identification, and integration with common access and personal-identity-verification cards. All feature 256-bit AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) technology and are engineered to meet international standards including FIPS (Federal Information Processing Standards) validation and TAA (Trade Adjustment Assistance) compliance.

"Businesses of all sizes need a versatile, flexible suite of software to help them effectively manage security on removable storage media," said Subodh Kulkarni, chief technology officer and senior vice president at Imation. "The robust functionality we've added to the Defender Collection Software Suite gives IT management and security officers the tools they need to help users share data with those who need it and are authorized to access it, while preventing critical data from getting into the wrong hands."