URGENT ATTENTION PLEASE: About USB Monitoring Access

[jcorenday]

I just wanna ask if there is already an existing software that can monitor, block, unblock the usb usage in different clients in a linux network? It can avoid data theft in a network. Need your reply. Thanks! We are planning to make one for linux if there is still no software like that. Thanks!

[Freston]

Welcome to the forums!

I don't know if there's a ready made package that does what you want.

But allowing or disallowing access to USB sticks can be done 1) in the BIOS, 2) in /etc/fstab and 3) with udev, and probably more.

In the BIOS it depends, but mostly you can turn on/off USB ports. Thats a pretty crude method.
In fstab, you can allow users to mount certain devices in certain places. This can be done crudely by device type (eg /dev/sdb1) or per hardware address. You may need to fiddle a bit with group permissions for this to work the way you want.

With udev however, you are fully free to run arbitrary code at predefined events. If you want an autogenerated log report to be mailed to the Queen of England whenever a user inserts a USB stick into the client, it can be done.
udev rules

[jcorenday]

Thanks for the reply. What we are planning is to make a software utility installed in a network and it is regulated by the server. The server administrator can grant a specific workstation to disable or enable flash drive access but not other hardwares such as printers and scanners using a usb cable. At any point in time, it can be enabled and it can be disabled depending on the needs of work.

Based on those descriptions, can you give us a suggestion on what programming language should we use and what approach should we first take? thanks! its actually for our thesis. Thanks a lot!

[Irithori]

The Writing udev rules mentioned by Freston are certainly the way to go.
As for that central server:
Have a look at cfengine or puppet.
One could think of:
- Write cf files or recipes, that describe how the udev rules on the clients should look like.
- commit them to a subversion repository
- have cfengine or puppet check out that repo and
- Distribute and enforce the udev rules by cfengine or puppet.