Case Study

Secure Whiteboard

Joe's a visual guy and often uses his interactive whiteboard to brainstorm or just to jot down some notes

July 21, 2008 — CSO — Joe's a visual guy and often uses his interactive whiteboard to brainstorm or just to jot down some notes. This whiteboard allows him to write with a dry erase marker, and then he can print out a copy of the board's contents on the attached inkjet printer.

The board scans its surface and creates a one-time printout, with no saved file. He can always use the board's USB port to save the file onto a flash drive or directly to his laptop, but printing to his secure printer ensures that there will never be another copy of his confidential notes.

JOE'S OFFICE

Joe needs to protect his proprietary research. You're looking at just one of his defenses. Click HERE to see a diagram of the office or click on any of Joe's other security measures.

Of course, he automatically erases the contents of his whiteboard at the end of every session. Joe dropped about $1,800 on this model.

Other interactive whiteboards in his office link directly to his secure laptop, and screenshots are saved as a PDF file in a folder on his computer. He can hide his notes simply by turning off the projector, and when he's done, by hitting the "erase all" button on the boards' remote-control device to keep his notes from prying eyes. The price tag on those models can reach $10,000.

Need we state the obvious: Joe's whiteboard has shutters and a lock.

-Stacy Collett