Kingston Data Traveler Elite Privacy Edition self-destructing flash drive

We know there are plenty of "secure" flash drives out there, but face it: if someone is really determined to get at your data, they'll probably figure out a way. That's where Kingston's Data Traveler Elite Privacy Edition comes in. The 4GB flash drive encrypts all data with 128-bit AES, and then adds an extra layer of security: a self destruct feature. If anyone tries to use a brute-force attack to guess your password, the drive will automatically erase itself after 25 wrong guesses. Of course, if you have a really easy password, and a data thief can figure it out in under 25 guesses, you're out of luck. For the rest of us, this could be a good solution for keeping on-the-go info out of the wrong hands.

[hapoo @ Mar 16th 2006 6:36PM]

If your data is THAT sensitive then the would be thief would probably crack the case open, take off the actual memory chip and extract the data off of it through some other hardware. Then s/he can run a brute force attack on it with no risk of wiping the data

[Sushil @ Dec 12th 2007 2:50AM]

i need a password protect software for data traveler

[Kevin @ Mar 16th 2006 7:06PM]

TrueCrypt will do a lot of this for you for free. No special drive required. You can also use multiple layers of "plausible deniability" and have a real password and a password to give to the Feds when they are torturing to give them your password.

[tiuk @ Mar 16th 2006 7:07PM]

Reminds me of a program I wrote ages ago. It would encrypt a text file, then when the time came to decrypt it you would have three (I think that was the default amount, this was a long time ago) tries to enter the correct password. If you failed to it would delete the file and the program itself.

[derek @ Mar 16th 2006 8:19PM]

When you said "self-destruct " I thought it would explode... thanks for giving my hopes up...

[Paul @ Mar 16th 2006 8:28PM]

At least it could melt the chip... I mean common, its still ussable after it erases the data. I would rather it be a chunk of worthless plastic than let someone who stole it still use it.

[dustin @ Mar 16th 2006 10:29PM]

i thought it would explode...that would be cool...
of course, you could always buy one and stick a tiny piece of dynamite in it.......

[pj davis @ Mar 16th 2006 10:49PM]

Explode, and kill whoever stole it, just hope you don't forget your own password though.

[Daniel Guido @ Mar 16th 2006 11:49PM]

Uhhhh, so I assume that you'd only store sensitive data on this disk that you couldn't store elsewhere because of the security concerns. So what happens, when someone steals you flash disk, tries incorrect passwords 24 times, and then holds the last try for ransom? Or when your buddy wants to play a mean trick on you.

Generally, self-destructing items are a bad security idea. They introduce an unneccessary Denial of Service vulnerability unless implemented very carefully.

[Mitch @ Mar 16th 2006 11:51PM]

Since the encryption features are windows only, I suspect that the easiest attack will be just install a keylogger using a trojan, and snatch the PW that way.

[andrew @ Mar 17th 2006 1:34AM]

20...
21...
22...
23...
24...
Fire in the hole!!!

[Keylogger @ Mar 17th 2006 2:34AM]

I believe the best way to store your sensitive data is locking them with 2~3 programs. For example, save your data in Office Word and save the file with a strong password, then compress the doc file with WinZip and add another strong password.

[geekfish @ Mar 17th 2006 3:19AM]

I've handled events for high level gov't and military officials, who bring me presentations and slides on CDs and consumer grade flashdrives- and quite honestly, if being used in a meeting/presentation setting, their info would be uploaded onto the laptop that's feeding signal to projectors.

THUS, the kind of info that should probably be protected by these sorts of devices, will never make it into their hands. You'd be amazed some of the info that's been relayed to me, and could easily have been shared with the public, and should've been protected with something like this.

[ric @ Mar 17th 2006 5:34AM]

another vote for truecrypt. for convenience you can install to the thumbdrive, with an automount batch file. gives full encryption, and option for plausible deniability - e.g. you can have a 2ndary password that "decrypts" to show different contents to your main password. if installed to your PC, a truecrypt volume is indistinguishable from random noise, too. great software, free and open source.
only slight prob is it needs you running as admin to mount an encrypted volume.

[Carsten Otto @ Mar 17th 2006 5:36AM]

There is no need for such a thing. You can mount any USB stick such that the content gets encrypted. Furthermore a key with 128bit (which is one out of 2^128, so about 3.4 * 10^28) cannot be cracked by brute force in reasonable time, if a random key is assumed and you don't have a computer which is by some million factor faster than all current computers (including Blue Gene and so on).

[southern_curriez @ Mar 17th 2006 6:10AM]

I think overall this is a useless product.

1. What ever software they are using to count how many tries you take could be bypassed by using a rootkit or just using a different os.

2. If they have some hardware designed to do the checking, then like hapoo said, a theif could bypass it using other hardware.


If data is really that secure, this is definately the wrong way to store it.

[Burgerman @ Mar 17th 2006 8:53AM]

"Alright; this is try number 24 -- I think"

[Derrick @ Mar 17th 2006 9:50AM]

Am I the only on that read it as Klingon not Kingston?

[Sergio @ Mar 17th 2006 10:12AM]

Well, this is great!! But if your material is that sensitive, you should carry a side arm as well. But then again, I can see why stock holders, or some lawyers could benefit from this.. GREAT IDEA!!!

[Sergio @ Mar 17th 2006 10:14AM]

Well, this is great!! But if your material is that sensitive, you should carry a side arm as well. My friend Mr. Hooten was probably hoping it would blow up, but that would be typical of him and some of the other. But then again, I can see why stock holders, or some lawyers could benefit from this.. GREAT IDEA!!!

[Alex @ Mar 17th 2006 11:42AM]

I think self-destructing is a bad idea. Sometimes you can accidentally erase your own data [or permanently lock the system]. I've seen things like this happen, at can think of at least two people who were ready to pay a zillion just to "get access to the contents of that blocked SIM card". No thanks.

Just use a good encryption program. I wish you good luck with brute-forcing AES: http://www.dekart.com/howto/howto_disk_encryption/howto_recover_lost_password/

[harkyman @ Mar 17th 2006 1:01PM]

So what prevents someone who steals it from copying the entire (encrypted) contents of the device, then decrypting at their leisure and making as many attempts as they care to?

[Tomas @ Mar 18th 2006 9:25AM]

So... you are saying that this is bad idea... So what software i can use to HIDE and encrypt my files? I think that if you use this FLASH, you hiding all your files from others, i would be absolutely guaranted that nobody see my files. A???

[Martin @ Feb 24th 2007 7:21AM]

I'm going to chime in and say this is a good idea. Take for example, during the Lord of the Rings production, they were transferring scenes using an iPod due to limited net connectivity. There was almost a chance of it getting stolen in London. Now, if the data was encrypted, it protects it getting into public domain, with no loss to the owner (except the cost of a new encrypted key).

The whole point of keys is to transport data, not store it for ever. It just reduces the chance of it getting into the wrong hands. If it gets wiped, go back to the secure source (usually in a secure building).

Just because 1% of scenarios could get around it, doesn't mean we should give up on protecting the remaining 99%.