Page 1 of 1
deny access to external device
Posted: Fri Sep 10, 2010 10:53 pm
by gnasen
hey guys,
for a possible job I need to know, if there is any way on windows (XP, Vista, 7) to modify an external device that it cant be read and modified by another PC. This means, that too example an USB stick can only be read by PCs of my choice.
Any ideas?
Re: deny access to external device
Posted: Sat Sep 11, 2010 7:13 am
by Little John
Hi,
maybe this suits your needs (page in German):
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ System\ CurrentControlSet\ Control\ StorageDevicePolicies
WriteProtect = 1
Another possibility is to encrypt the whole USB drive, e.g. using TrueCrypt.
Regards, Little John
Re: deny access to external device
Posted: Sat Sep 11, 2010 10:57 am
by gnasen
This may be an option, but it seems, that this works only for the PC you change the registry. It would be needed, that the stick wont be accessible (or the content editable) on any other PC. I think this cant be done, but I often read surprising things in this board
Here something about the background: A company has the problem, that very often some users take USB from work to home and infect them. As a solution, the USB sticks should only work, if a special application is installed.
Re: deny access to external device
Posted: Sat Sep 11, 2010 11:34 am
by PB
At my workplace, NO usb devices can be used at all. If I plug one in,
and try to open it, it says the device is unavailable (or something).
The dumb thing is, the company has NOT disabled CD-ROMs! So I can
just use a rewritable disc to bring things in to run at work! Stupid IT
department!
Re: deny access to external device
Posted: Sat Sep 11, 2010 12:36 pm
by Little John
gnasen wrote:Here something about the background: A company has the problem, that very often some users take USB from work to home and infect them. As a solution, the USB sticks should only work, if a special application is installed.
It depends ... I assume the users do not do so deliberately, but it happens accidentally, right?
Maybe the company can format the respective USB drives with a file system, that is by default not supported by Windows (e.g. Ext3)? Then on the computers at work, they have to install the proper drivers, and the employees cannot access these USB drives at home. Or do the employees actually need to READ the drives at home? Then an engineer of the company can install software on their home computers, that only allows reading that file system, but no writing.
IMHO best would be a "human solution" rather then a technical one: Tell the employees not to do strange things with these USB drives. But I know that this often does not work. 
Regards, Little John
Re: deny access to external device
Posted: Wed Oct 20, 2010 9:59 pm
by Mohawk70
Maybe the company can format the respective USB drives with a file system, that is by default not supported by Windows (e.g. Ext3)? Then on the computers at work, they have to install the proper drivers, and the employees cannot access these USB drives at home.
Any user with Linux installed would be able to access the drive anyway, would they not ?
Re: deny access to external device
Posted: Wed Oct 20, 2010 10:08 pm
by Little John
Mohawk70 wrote:Maybe the company can format the respective USB drives with a file system, that is by default not supported by Windows (e.g. Ext3)? Then on the computers at work, they have to install the proper drivers, and the employees cannot access these USB drives at home.
Any user with Linux installed would be able to access the drive anyway, would they not ?
Little John wrote:It depends ... I assume the users do not do so deliberately, but it happens accidentally, right?
Re: deny access to external device
Posted: Thu Oct 21, 2010 4:17 am
by PureLust
gnasen wrote:A company has the problem, that very often some users take USB from work to home and infect them. As a solution, the USB sticks should only work, if a special application is installed.
We also were looking for somekind solution a few month ago.
If a comercial Solution will Be acceptable for you, you may have a Look at
CynapsPro - Data Endpoint Protection.
Also
Secure it Easy may be an acceptable Solution for less than 15€/PC.
Last but Not least, there is a promising Freeware available:
USB-Bouncer.
Greetz, PL.
Re: deny access to external device
Posted: Thu Oct 21, 2010 9:22 pm
by utopiomania
Maybe you could detect the USB like this and do something, like accept it or format it straight away
Code: Select all
procedure deviceEventCallback(windowID, message, wParam, lParam)
protected result, drive.s
;callback procedure to handle camera connect/disconnect events
result = #PB_PROCESSPUREBASICEVENTS
select message
case QueryCancelAutoPlay
;disable Autorun
result = 1
case #WM_DEVICECHANGE
select wParam
case #DBT_DEVICEARRIVAL, #DBT_DEVICEREMOVECOMPLETE
;removable device inserted or removed
numFiles = 0
srcPath = ""
drvLetter = findCamera()
if len(drvLetter)
;camera connected
srcPath = drvLetter + "DCIM\"
numFiles = getAllsrcFiles(srcPath, fileExt.s, numFiles, 0, 0, 1)
endIf
;Update step2
setGadgetText(#WEB, wizardStep2())
endSelect
endSelect
procedureReturn result
endProcedure