Reichenberg adds that in the past year or so, the security officers of major companies have become more aware of the risk involved with personal storage devices, "but the storage guys are still under a rock and don't even consider the device as part of their storage strategy."

M-System's recently created Xkey division, of which Reichenberg is part, targets the corporate market and aims to address the security and asset management issues related to personal storage.

"No employee would ever think of buying a laptop and bringing it to the office to do some work," Reichenberg says. "But most people won't think twice about taking a USB drive they bought at Best Buy into the office, copying some financial information to it, and just walking out."

Reichenberg has a good point: USB drives and other similar devices' ease of use make them ideal tools for smuggling information outside the company. Even when there is no foul play, the data stored on those gizmos escapes routine company procedures, such as backups, encryption, or inventory. Moreover, there is no accountability because it's virtually impossible to tell one USB drive from another.

"We started by securing the hardware, making the Xkey Drive, a USB drive that has a unique identifier, hardware-based encryption, enforceable security, plus virus and tamper protection," continues Reichenberg, adding that the drive has been well received and adopted as a standard and only permissible device of that kind by many corporations.