Apricorn launches Aegis Padlock Secure portable USB drive for paranoia on the go
By Laura June 
posted August 20th 2009 1:18PM
posted August 20th 2009 1:18PM
We're fairly certain a lot of you out there have plenty of data that needs... securing. Apricorn's just announced its Aegis Padlock Secure USB drive with keyboard for keeping your data safe via PIN. Sure, it's not as good looking as Lenovo's ThinkPad Portable hard drive, but it should get the job done, right? The drive comes in AES-128 or 256 bit hardware encryption flavors, and up to 500GB capacity. Prices start at $99 and $119 for the 250GB models in 128 and 256 bit, respectively, and they're available right now. Go ahead -- indulge yourself in the idea that someone is after your Mr T. JPEG collection.
Wow... what a terrible design.
Nothing screams "STEAL ME" more than a portable hard drive with numeric keypad with an "unlock" button.
Hey guys, next time try hiding the buttons under a sliding or hinged panel... make it look like just another external drive, rather than the place where the keep the recipe for Coca Cola.
You know, this would be a really useful device. I do biomedical research and much of my data is waiting patent application or is being funded by private investors. I currently use a USB stick with encryption, but it requires the decrypting device be installed on every computer, so the software is actually in the unencrypted region of the USB stick. This provides some extra security... size doesn't really matter, either, considering a briefcase is usually necessary for everything that I need to carry around.
"size doesn't really matter, either, considering a briefcase is usually necessary for everything that I need to carry around."
You have a briefcase for your flashlight?
But how can you verify that it is actually doing what it says it is doing?
It looks like a timer for a bomb. I wonder how well this would get through airport security.
Hmmm... let's see...
(1) You pull the drive out of your laptop bag and put it in one of those grey bins.
(2) TSA xrays it.
(3) You go to your gate and wait 3 hours for your delayed flight.
Not so hard. You know other things with numeric keypads go through the xray all day long... we call them "phones".
I guess you don't get out much.
truecrypt
it is free
does the same thing sans the silly keypad
end of story.
This does it in hardware and it doesn't need external software, and most companies dealing with sensitive data don't allow people to install software from USB drives.
Disadvantage of course is that this probably has some master key they share with US federal groups.
they don't need to share any master key, when the password is digits it should only take a matter of minutes to bruteforce the key. it may take a bit to figure out how the pin number is hashed (if at all) but after that you could make a big ass list of precomputed keys for a very long list of pins.
that...or you throw some powder on the buttons see which ones have the most wear, and suddenly you narrow down your choices even more....
Wwhat, i get what you are saying, but most of these drives require you to run mount software anyway to key the data, usually they aren't smart enough to have a direct interface with the AES chip (simliar to the WD encrypted drives that came out a few years ago...chip encryption, software interface). TrueCrypt is portable anyway, and when dealing with sensitive data you always should have have administrative rights as well (for a number of reasons)