I’m curious as to why?
My first thought was that it would be so easy to ‘take’ information out of the workplace on them. They would have to do a full search on people to find them.
I’m surprised they would be allowed at all in any government office.
If you ban the use of hardware and DVD/CDs from outside the network, then you have a little better control over what data goes out the door and what material comes in.
Our systems at DHS/ICE are prevented from going to Facebook, Myspace and any of the other social networking sites, as well as mass storage sites (Flickr, Picasa are two of the examples). We issue encrypted thumb drives with the express understanding that the only equipment they connect to is GFE (government furnished equipment), but aside from someone’s word of honor, how do you keep them from plugging them in at home? If our investigators need to get to any locked out site, then there’s a process to follow, and then one system at the facility is designated to be able to penetrate to that site - and is prevented from accessing the rest of our internal network.
For exactly this reason. It helps keep trojans and viruses out. I am amazed they are just now making this kind of rule.