The ubiquitous USB key has been rapidly increasing in capacity whilst decreasing in size and cost. It's all too easy to throw on large amounts of data and all too easy to misplace.  Worse still, they are soft targets for information thieves.  Wouldn't it be nice to have an USB key that is totally secure, yet only easily accessible to you?

IronKey claims to be the world's most secure USB drive.  IronKey was developed by a team of security experts with collective experience at companies such as Visa, RSA Security, PayPal, Authenex, Nokia, Cisco, Lexar, Netscape, Tumbleweed, Valicert, Apple and the Department of Homeland Security. In short, the IronKey solution is to add flash memory around a dedicated onboard hardware encryption chip, all wrapped in layers of physical security. 

The "Cryptochip" follows industry best practices and all data on the IronKey is encrypted by hardware using AES CBC-mode encryption.  It is multi-layered with 256-bit AES local, SHA-256 hash keys and 128-bit AES hardware algorithms.  The encryption is "always on" which prevents accidental or intentional disabling.  The chip also runs the internal password guessing counter to resist memory rewind attacks.  It only allows 10 incorrect attempts before initiating a hardware self-destruct sequence to erase the entire flash and Cryptochip memory.

Logical security is only one facet of this device, the creators also made it resistant to physical attacks.  All internal components are potted in an epoxy compound to resist physical removal of the chips without damage.  The in-built self-aware technology initiates the hardware self-destruct sequence if there's a physical attack, including a scan by an electron microscope!

The device has a metal casing, and the epoxy compound lends strength to protect the device from the harshness of a road-warrior.  It is even waterproof for those times when you accidentally take a dunk in the motel pool, or is thrown into the wash.

The team at IronKey didn't stop at creating a secure USB drive.  They bundled a Password Manager and a secure copy of Firefox that tunnels the web browsing session through IronKey's dedicated Tor network.  This approach protects your identity and confidentiality by encrypting and anonymising your web surfing in almost any network.  Combined with the Password Manager, which can automate the input of credentials into secure websites, it is protected against keystroke loggers or someone looking over your shoulder.

With all these security in place, you can still forget your password to IronKey or lose it.  An Online Security Vault is provided to you. Besides a two-factor authentication to unlock the device, it requires a RSA 2048-bit key handshake with the Online Security Vault before transmitting your passwords via SSL.

These good looking units have already seen active duty in Afganistan with Uncle Sam, and are available in 1, 2 and 4 Gb sizes.  After all the layers of security, the best part of IronKey is that the user does not require local administrator rights to work.  And that's great news for system administrators.