Disk Encryption falls into two unique categories: Local and Server disk encryption.

Local Disk Encryption
More and more people are looking into or should be looking into Local Disk Encryption. This becomes almost mandatory for traveling executives with notebook computers. It’s a little known fact that the user name and password protection of the operating system is extremely easy to compromise.

Laptop theft is something to be concerned about, not for the cost of the laptop but for the value of information contained within the laptop. According to the 2002 Computer Security Institute/FBI Computer Crime & Security Survey:

• The theft of a laptop results in an average financial loss of $89,000; only a small percentage of the sum actually relates to the hardware cost.
• Financial loss due to laptop theft has been second only to loss due to computer virus for the last seven years running.
• The average financial loss resulting from a laptop theft grew by 44% from 2000 to 2001 ($62,000 to $89,000).
• To solve this problem, software solutions have been created to encrypt files stored in designated directories or the entire hard disk.

How would it work with iKey?
iKey would be used to contain the "key" for the encryption and decryption of the files. Therefore, if a laptop is lost or stolen, chances are that the iKey will still be in the possession of the owner and consequently, the data in the laptop will remain secure.

Even someone highly determined on getting the data will give up, reformat the hard drive and then, out of frustration, sell the laptop. In the world of information security there is a simple rule: "If you cannot protect the data, destroy it." Using disk encryption in this way, a company’s only loss is the hardware itself.

Server Disk Encryption
Server Disk Encryption is probably one of the final steps toward complete corporate security. This area will become more important as corporations begin to secure the perimeter more thoroughly. Once a corporation has successfully secured the perimeter, the random hacker will be locked out, but targeted hackers will just stop trying to penetrate from the outside and move their efforts to the inside.

Once on the inside, hackers perform a search and capture exercise or plant Trojan horses. Files on corporate file servers are, for the most part, protected by rights and restrictions only. This protection is not intended to stop the determined hacker; it is intended to stop the curious employee.

How would it work with iKey?
For a file on a network file server to be truly secured, it must be stored encrypted and since encryption requires "keys," there is no better storage container for those keys than the iKey.

An encryption key could be kept on the person's PC but the only place the file can be viewed would be the PC in which the keys reside. With the "keys" on the iKey, the person who encrypted the file could access the file from any PC. When employees wants to open a file that has been encrypted that they are authorized to decrypt, they will be instructed to insert their iKey into the USB port and to enter their PIN. If the PIN matches the iKey, the file will be decrypted. Once a file is resaved, the process is reversed.