BioCert ClipBio Pro 1GB biometric flash drive
By Ryan Block 
posted May 29th 2006 12:14AM
posted May 29th 2006 12:14AM
Last time we heard from BioCert, it was regarding that there Guardian biometric fingerprint door lock. Now it looks like they're back in the game with the ClipBio Pro 1GB biometric flash drive. Yeah, it's more of the same when it comes to integrated-biometric personal data storage, but their fingerprint reading piece will only set you back $130, which ain't too bad for a gig of room (sans whatever space is required for that bundled iQBioDrive security software).[Via Mobility Site]
Why not just encrypt the data then store it on your thumb drive encrypted. And why would you store important information like that on your thumb drive?
#1, Chris
Because biometrics are much cooler and thus sell better? ;-)
I'd also prefer something like TrueCrypt to store important and secret stuff..
Sony tried this years ago - I know because I sold them. They failed due to high price and low usefullness. With the new encryption/protection for USB drives in Vista, this will be obselete.
But no Mac OS X support.. *Sigh*
I don't know where Ryan has been shopping, but the going price for 1gb flash drives has been $20-40, depending on your tolerance for sales and rebates. For that price, get yourself a 300gb external drive and a seperate print reader. I know it's not as "portable," but it can carry a lot more sensitive info that people can get to with Play-do.
All of these fingerprint drives have covers over the sensor because the sensor is made of a thin sliver of glass (read: silicon). They are inherently unstable and prone to early failure. There are newer technologies on the horizon with fingerprint sendors that you will see appearing in the Itronix notebook and a few others that have real robustness.
#6. Forgive me, your Anti-MS comments caused me to fire back.
If you read my post correctly it says that Sony tried this before and it did not take off. It may be user friendly, but really - who need security at that high of a level? People with top secret corporate files that can't be protected by software? That's not a huge market......
It may be a good product, but not an incredibly viable item for an already saturated market.
Seems like a sensible idea to me based upon the news stories hitting the press lately.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,191774,00.html
Our own military is buying unsecured thumb drives back from Afghani shopkeepers. Biometrics looks to an easy solution.
Isn't this still prone to the old "chop off your fingers" hack?
SanDisk Cruzer® Profile 1GB
Price: $79.99
Been using one for a year - love it! Almost ½ the cost.
I ordered two of them... If you have to type in a main password your security is flawed. I can operate this transparently from keyloggers.
Let me clarify my post above. The problem with this device is even after using your finger to unlock the storage device, they are only offering a "Portable Firefox" for SSO software. So, you need to then type in a master password. (After the fact you have proven authenticity with your finger!) If someone is monitoring your behavior with a trojan they can record the password and transfer over the neccesary files in order to steal all of your passwords.
So let me get this straight Mike - "AFTER using your finger to unlock the secure partition" (which should only be done once you are sure the PC is free of viruses using the included portable anti-virus software on a public partition and the included free Comodo software to secure the host PC) "someone is going to steal all of your passwords..." Why would you open the secure partition to expose your data if the PC had a trojan on it?