Click - Hard drive locked and encrypted.
Click - Hard drive unlocked and ready for use.

Yup, that’s it for security when using the RFID USB hard drive enclosure. The enclosure is designed to hold any number of 2.5 inch hard drives and with the embedded RFID technology a simple RFID ringkey is all that holds your data safe and secure.

Upon connection to your system, the RFID key identifies the USB hard drive for setup and connection, from that point forward the USB enclosure needs the same RFID signal to lock and unlock the drive.Several LED light configurations provide status: Red for lock, Green for unlock and Blue for write process.

With all this high tech RFID security, you can still be a knucklehead (more…)

SentrySafe is the first [I think] Safe manufacturer to include USB connectivity for external access.  We’ll get to the USB portion soon enough, but lets take a look at the physical characteristics of the SentrySafe Fire-Safe.

In the picture above, I am talking about the larger two Safes in the back.  The sizes are available in 1.2 or 2.0 cu feet sizes.  Are fire resistant for up to 2 hours and can sit in water up to 8 inches.  A perfect Safe for the home or office.

Now on to the USB Safe portion:  Sizing allows for 120CDs or DVDs with door pockets to hold hard drives.  In the door pocket sits USB connectivity to an external USB port.  From here, outside of safe, you have digital access to the hard drives inside.  This is a nice twist for those who need high security for their hard drives.

However, and I can see it now, you need to encrypt your hard drive.  Saving your digital data physically is only half the battle.  Here is some free open source USB encryption software that’ll work great with any hard drive.

As a closing note, if you have a window office spot, and the safe happens to fall out during an blaze, she’s good for a drop up to 30 feet.  Cost is $420  for the 1.2 cu ft and $520 for the 2.0 cu ft version.

SentrySafe USB Fire Safe

Photo Source: GizMag

Well, it’s probably a good idea to vaccine your dog too, but today we can apply that term to something new, USB drives.

LG Electronics launched a Vaccine USB drive equipped with anti virus and malware protection software. Appartently the first of it’s kind.

The Vaccine USB protects the UFD in real-time during operation. There is a built-in autorun feature which constantly monitors data being transferred on the UFD device. The Vaccine USB monitors both (more…)

Luigi of I4U had some time yesterday to review the PNY IronKey USB 4GB UFD. In short it’s a great security device but you give up performance for such security.

The PNY IronKey uses AES encryption which is always on and keys generated by the on-board cryptochip uses FIPS 140-2 true compliant random number generation. Since the IronKey uses the cryptochip the keys used to generate access never leave the UFD (and onto computer).

The PNY IronKey has an on board stealth browser via Firefox and is entirely incased with a water tight sealant which sits underneath the rugged, outside enclosure. (more…)

Have you ever wanted to hide files on your computer or flash drive? I could think of several “categories” of data in which I’d like to hide from people around me. Of course I’m talking about valuable data such as passwords, financial records and the priceless contact list for GetUSB.info network of publishers.

Today I found a small utility called HideFlash 1.0 which does just what the name says. Hides your data on a UFD.

The USB security software protects files and folders from others who are trying to view them without permission. What works for me with this package is not only do you have the 128bit encryption working for you, but the Hide Flash software also hides the files and folders it’s protecting. This means when a USB drive is plugged into any computer, the user wouldn’t even know there’s extra data.

The USB security software remains hidden on any computer and invisible to even (more…)

Buffalo just put the call to action for SanDisk, Western Digital and the like for the world’s largest portable hard drive, the MiniStation.

I’m a big fan of portability. I’m a big fan of storage space. And I’m going to need to get some serious work-on to fill up the 300GB hard drive in addition to my standard 120GB HHD of my laptop. Not to say, I wouldn’t turn down some extra space.

The Buffalo USB MiniStation (HD-PS320U2) is just over $300 and comes with Buffalo’s 256-bit AES encryption security software and Memeo’s autobackup utility. After all, out of 300GBs there has got to be something worth saving. (more…)

Recently the head of marketing for SanDisk, Dror Todress, made a claim where “there are endless examples of data breaches…” then immediately sites an example of a stolen US Army UFD (USB Flash Drive) being purchased from a reporter just 200 yards from an army base in Afghanistan.

Todress goes on to explain most IT managers understand and are aware of such security risks and most employees who bring in USB drives or MP3 players with mass storage capability do not have malicious intentions. However, this doesn’t mean valuable information IS leaving the building.

Considering between 80% - 90% of UFDs do not have encryption software, I thought to browse back through my USB Security category and list out a couple articles which could be of help.

USB lock - a physical blocking of USB port

Free open-source USB encryption software - TrueCrypt

Visual password protector

Disable writing to USB drives on Windows systems

IT management software to control USB endpoints

SanDisk’s answer

Windows Vista locks out USB (actually I don’t think it ever worked)

Wireless PC lock from USB dongle

Another PC port blocking software package

There are a host of other USB devices with security features in my USB security category, but those are device specific not network specific.