USB storage devices must have improved security measures in place for the safety of a business, according to the SanDisk Enterprise Solutions Technology Alliance (SESTA).

Speaking on behalf of 14 of its members, SESTA called upon IT support to invest in software to ensure that there is no possibility of a data leak by any company which uses the technology.

It added said that as a result of unprotected portable media, malware infections were starting to spread rapidly across many networks and the internet.

SESTA noted that to avoid any major problems, increased proliferation of such technology was needed to cut down on any possible losses but USB devices should not be discarded as a media resource by companies.

It added that businesses "need to implement policies but they also need technologies that ensure the highest degree of security without impacting the productivity and mobility benefits of USB drives, including antivirus, encryption, password protection and a centrally-managed security solution".

SESTA's main goal is to promote universal use of the same standards in computing in order to ensure compliance is easy to maintain.

In a recent survey of SMEs for Connect, the two most important benefits of outsourcing were guaranteed response times and allowing in-house IT staff to concentrate on more strategic issues.