An employee at a financial organization needs to transfer sensitive client data temporarily to an external hard drive for a work-related task. Which of the following actions should the employee take FIRST to ensure the security of the data?
Verify that the external hard drive has antivirus software installed.
Encrypt the data on the external hard drive.
Label the external hard drive with the owner's name and return date.
Ensure that the external hard drive is brand new and never previously used.