IronKey Secure USB Drive

Tuesday, February 05, 2008

Up until about a year ago, when a flat mate tried to steal my USB memory key, I honestly thought that they were pretty inexpensive. I mean, you can get a decent sized one for under a tenner… I guess she was just a bit of a klepto, as she liked to steal little things from me on a regular basis. At a stage, she started wearing what ever I would wear, say the same things as me and even mimick my mannerisms. LOL I guess imitation is the best form of flattery.

But back to the matter on hand, USB memory keys, USB flash drive, USB thumb drive or USB pen I’ve even heard it being called, what ever you want to call them, they’re awesome and they are now dirt cheap. First one me and my better half bought was years ago and we paid a small fortune for it, so I think it’s pretty understandable that I’ve become quite attached to it. Of course now we have a couple. One which is just a plain USB memory key on it’s own, one which doubles as an MP3 player and a third, which is definitely our most handy key, doubles as an MP3 player AND a memory card reader. Actually no, scrap that last one, it’s only a card reader and MP3 player, we use it in conjunction with our memory cards so it sort of becomes a USB memory key in that way. But that is one of the most advantageous gadgets we ever got, it saves you having to connect your camera or phone or PSP or anything else to your PC through any software, this way you just pop the SD card in and plug the reader into your PC via a USB port and it effectively works as a USB memory key. Easy as pie.

But as these wonderful USB memory keys evolve and becoming so easily obtainable, security becomes more and more of an issue. I personally don’t have a need for such a high amount of security anymore… not since the klepto left But still, a good gadget is always gona peak my interest. If you think about it, more and more people are using this form of data storage and transfer and as the memory keys evolve, they get smaller and smaller and easier to loose. It’s ok for me a the moment, but if I was using it to do personal stuff at work, on my work PC or even if some corporate or government official was using it for sensitive data, as soon as you loose that key, it could definitely hit the fan. Your best bet, is to try and secure the data before you loose the key itself. There are a number of secure USB memory keys available on the market, obviously a little more pricey than an ordinary one. Some are simply password protected and some go as far to add a fingerprint reader, which I think is totally awesome of course

The IronKey Secure USB drive is a great USB key as it not only has beefed up security features, but it’s extrememly waterproof. Oh yes, I have on occasion washed our keys, as my better half tends to leave things like oyster cards, money and USB keys in trouser pockets. The IronKey Secure USB drive boasts a very sturdy and protective steel casing, with even has a space on it where you could engrave something with a ball point pen. This is good for putting your name or work extension or something of the sort on it. Now about this security they brag about. Most USB memory drives use software encryption, which for the most part, is reasonably good. But if you are dealing with extremely sensitive data or are just really paranoid or even just a big geek like me, then you want hardware encryption. Hardware encryption is much faster than the usual software encryption. The IronKey Secure USB drive itself handles everything, not the PC it’s plugged into and by giving the IronKey Secure USB drive hardware encryption, you’re basically removing any backdoor security threats. Now there is a lot of technical stuff I could tell you about how exactly the IronKey Secure USB drive’s security works, but I won’t bore you. Basically, similar encryption technology is used in the US government for their high security documents and they’ve added a lot of great features onto this key like a password try counter which after ten failed password attempts, initiates a sort of self destruct feature. No, it won’t go up in a poof of smoke but instead, will erase all data on the key. It sounds a little extreme I know, but if you think about it, should your key get stolen, not a bad security feature.

The IronKey Secure USB drive has a secure version of Mozilla Firefox (which just so happens to be the only internet browser I myself use) and the ability to surf on an encrypted anonymous connection directly from your key. Along with that, it has a password manager which allows you to store your website login details directly on the key itself, so you can take it along with you anywhere. There are two major advantages of this, firstly of course convenience and secondly, it is a good way to avoid any key loggers on PC’s, especially if you’re worried about using a public one. It also has a form filler feature and you will be able to store bookmarks on it. As the key itself is highly secure and encrypted and same goes for Firefox, while using your IronKey Secure USB drive, you can be sure your data will be well looked after, your IP address will even be hidden. This is a great feature, allowing you to do what ever you want online without leaving any traces behind.

With your IronKey Secure USB drive you will have access to their website which has a few extra features. Although, being such a secured device, I’d be a little weary of using any of their online features, but that’s just me.

The IronKey team boast it being the world's most secure flash drive and the price definitely meets that standard. Well I suppose that is if you're gona put a price on that level of security, then it's pretty reasonable. You can buy the IronKey Secure USB drive ranging from 1GB up to 4GB.

Happy Shopping!