Imation Brings New Functionality to Defender Collection Software

Government, enterprises, and small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) have new tools for safeguarding data on removable storage media with enhancements to the Defender Collection Software Suite from Imation Corp.

At the 2011 Storage Visions Conference held this week at the Riviera Hotel, 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 line of Defender Collection secure data storage solutions, the Defender Collection Software Suite meets the needs of a range of users in government, enterprise, and SMB environments, with 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 devices that are lost or stolen. New enhancements to 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. A new ‘remote kill’ function allows for disabling devices that have been lost or stolen, and distributed provisioning allows for easy 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 personal computer, 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. Defender Collection Control Client will also have the capability to define 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. In addition, Control Client software will include 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.

"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, 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."

Announced in 2010, the Imation Defender Collection is a portfolio of products to secure information stored on portable devices and media. In addition to the Defender Collection Software Suite, the Defender Collection includes secure optical media, USB flash and USB hard drives, with options for antivirus, password, fingerprint identification and integration with common access and personal identity verification cards.  All feature 256-bit AES encryption and are engineered to meet the common international standards including FIPS validation and TAA compliance.