July 27, 2007 at 17:03IronKey "self-destructing" flash drive
According to the manufacturer , IronKey is the most secure flash drive in the world. It is quite possible to believe in such statements, since it uses a cryptographic chip to encrypt data at the hardware level. In addition, IronKey is capable of a couple of interesting "spy stuff" that will be useful not only to James Bond, but also to mere mortals.
Firstly, protection at the hardware level implies the constant encryption of data (moreover, in AES CBC mode) before their direct recording. In order to access information, you must maintain a personal password. Keys are generated by a cryptographic processor and a hardware random number generator. So if you have problems remembering the password, then expect trouble: after a dozen consecutive attempts to enter the wrong password, IronKey self-destructs. Do not expect special effects in the form of explosions and fireworks - only data is destroyed. Moreover, each byte is physically overwritten (the flash-trash technology is used), which makes the information completely unrecoverable.
Secondly, IronKey (except for hardware data protection) provides the user with the ability to covert web-surfing. If you go (log in) to the company’s website, which means entering a password and having a flash drive connected to your PC, you can activate the protected mode for viewing web pages. This makes Firefox (and, judging by the manufacturer’s information, only Firefox) a malware-invisible browser.
Another IronKey feature, clearly designed for paranoid use, is the prevention of hardware cryptanalysis. When a flash drive is physically hacked, its “inside” is filled with a black viscous liquid, which makes further attempts to figure out “and what was on the disk” simply useless.
A gigabyte mega-protected IronKey device costs $ 79, and a 4-gigabyte one costs $ 149.
via Gizmodo
Firstly, protection at the hardware level implies the constant encryption of data (moreover, in AES CBC mode) before their direct recording. In order to access information, you must maintain a personal password. Keys are generated by a cryptographic processor and a hardware random number generator. So if you have problems remembering the password, then expect trouble: after a dozen consecutive attempts to enter the wrong password, IronKey self-destructs. Do not expect special effects in the form of explosions and fireworks - only data is destroyed. Moreover, each byte is physically overwritten (the flash-trash technology is used), which makes the information completely unrecoverable.
Secondly, IronKey (except for hardware data protection) provides the user with the ability to covert web-surfing. If you go (log in) to the company’s website, which means entering a password and having a flash drive connected to your PC, you can activate the protected mode for viewing web pages. This makes Firefox (and, judging by the manufacturer’s information, only Firefox) a malware-invisible browser.
Another IronKey feature, clearly designed for paranoid use, is the prevention of hardware cryptanalysis. When a flash drive is physically hacked, its “inside” is filled with a black viscous liquid, which makes further attempts to figure out “and what was on the disk” simply useless.
A gigabyte mega-protected IronKey device costs $ 79, and a 4-gigabyte one costs $ 149.
via Gizmodo
