It’s been all over the blogs the last couple of days regarding Kingston and their security issues. They have been tight lipped about exactly what makes the device vulnerable and with specific information it’s hard to gauge just how hard it would be for someone to crack it.
I don’t think the typical user who keeps their personal information secure with this drive [in the event it’s lost] has much to worry about, but the government has purchased plenty of units and that’s clearly a concern. The list of drives include Data Traveler BlackBox, the Data Traveler Secure – Privacy Edition, and the Data Traveler Elite – Privacy Edition. Again, a typical computer user probably doesn’t have the tools or skills to unlock the device, but a professional would.
My guess is the IC controller chip which runs the AES 256 encryption is at fault here and someone has figured out how to hack the machine code and disable the encryption, but that’s just my educated guess being in the industry.
PC World did a good write up about the statement and interesting perspective on the whole situation.
