When USB keys are banned: an honest comparison

USB keys are fast and familiar, which is exactly why they are banned in so many isolated environments. Here is what changes with Bouraq, including what you lose.

See the price and start Watch the proof

€79 / monthbilled yearly (€948), or €99 monthly; 14-day money-back guarantee
≈ 5 kB/s5 MB of logs ≈ 2 min 23 s per loop on a full-HD screen (estimate yours)
Nothing to installone HTML file on the offline PC, and a camera you are allowed to use

Why organisations ban USB keys

A key goes in both directions. It can carry malware into the isolated system, carry far more out than intended, and get lost on a train. Media policies answer with registered keys, encryption, scanning kiosks and logs, or with a plain ban.

Side by side

	USB key under policy	Bouraq
Speed	Megabytes per second	About 5 kB/s
Something enters the isolated PC	Yes, the key itself	No: on the way out, the screen only emits
Content encrypted	If the key is	Yes, with your account key
Integrity check	Rarely	sha256 of every file
Record for security	With media control software	Named account, time stamp, tamper-evident audit trail
Lost device	The data goes with it	Nothing to lose: the phone sends the codes as it reads them and keeps no copy of the file
Way back to the PC	Yes	Private repository, or a USB key where allowed
Cost	Low, plus media control	€79 to €99 a month

When the USB key is still the right answer

If your policy offers a sanctioned USB path (registered keys, a scanning station), use it for large files: Bouraq will never match its speed. Bouraq is for the many small transfers that are not worth a media request, or where USB is not allowed at all.

Bouraq does not make a ban disappear

A USB ban does not mean every other channel is allowed. Ask the people who wrote the policy whether an optical channel with a record is acceptable; the page for security teams is written for them.

Honest scope. Bouraq replaces uncontrolled USB keys and screen photos for small, frequent transfers. It needs a camera allowed at the workstation and the agreement of whoever owns the policy. Security and architecture →

Questions

Is Bouraq allowed where USB keys are banned?

Only if your organisation says so. Bouraq is designed to be approved: every transfer is recorded against a named account, and organisation instances can add per-transfer approval and an export-only policy.

Why is Bouraq so much slower than a USB key?

Light through a camera carries far less than a USB port: six QR codes every 2.5 seconds, about 5 kB/s of compressed data on a full-HD screen. It is enough for logs, configs, code and reports, not for disk images.

Can IT not just enable the USB port for a moment?

That is your security team's decision, and sometimes the right one for a large file. Bouraq is an option that keeps the ports disabled: nothing is plugged into the isolated PC, and the transfer is still recorded.

For the small files that are not worth a media request.

See the price and start Security page for approvers

14-day money-back guarantee · €79 a month billed yearly, or €99 monthly.