External devices include USB sticks/pens, external hard drives and devices such as mobile phones that are plugged in to be charged. They can be a security risk because they can carry viruses, compromised software and malware.
GUIDELINE 1
Keep Personal Devices Separate
Non-company devices should never be connected to work devices. You may need to include charging of non-work mobile phones in your portable device usage procedure or mobile phone policy to make sure colleagues are not plugging them in to work computers. If you don't need the USB slots for work purposes you could go as far as removing access to them altogether. A simple way to do this is to place the machine in such a way that they cannot easily be accessed e.g. against a wall.
GUIDELINE 2
Secure Necessary External Devices
If you do need to use external devices for work e.g. an external storage device for backing up data then they should be encrypted and locked away when not in use.
External Devices