Review: USB Write Protect Switch Verse USB Write Protect Controller

Review with pictures and video

When it comes to making a USB stick read only, or USB write protected, there are two options. The first is the original technology of using a physical switch to toggle on and off the flash drive writing. The more recent technology is a programmatical way to toggle the write protection on and off.

Why write protect a USB anyway?

Great question. There are two main categories of flash drive users;
A) the home computer user and
B) the corporate / business world. The home computer user probably doesn’t care too much about making a USB read only because their environment is trusted. They know who’s had the USB and they know the computers it is being plugged into. However corporate folks definitely care about making a USB read only.

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They have two main reasons why

1. They don’t want their data changed or manipulated.
2. They don’t want a virus to spread via their USB; it’s bad publicity and a security risk. Corporations don’t want those headaches.

Surprisingly this review has brought to light the way all flash drives should work.

The idea of doing this review came from a resent press release from Nexcopy about their Lock License flash drive which is programmatically write protected at all times. Only when the user enters the correct password does the write function enable. This unique approach had us thinking about what past methods have been available to make a USB read only, and that other solution is a USB write protect switch.

To be clear, both solutions provide USB write protection at the hardware controller level. The difference is one requiring human intervention to set the write protection and the other is, by default, always write protected but can be temporarily ‘writable’ to update the drive.

The Products:

This review is between the Nexcopy Lock License technology and the Netac write protect technology. In the image below you can see the write protect switch of the Netac product and that of the Nexcopy Lock License drive, although there is no physical attribute to signify the write protect feature with Nexcopy since it is a programmable solution.

General Specifications:

Netac:

• Storage capacity: 64GB or 128GB
• Protocol: USB 3.0
• Write speed: 90MB/read 30MB/write
• *(Real world write 22MB write)
• Programmable options: None
• Body case options: None
• Body color options: None
• Custom Branding: Not available
• Price range: $10 – $22

Nexcopy Lock License:

• Storage capacity: Ranges from 2GB to 256GB
• Protocol: USB 2.0 for 2GB & 4GB, USB 3.0 for 8GB-256GB
• Write speed: 25MB/read 15MB/write & 90MB/read 30MB/write
• *(Real world write 13MB write for 2.0 media & 28MB write for 3.0 media)
• Programmable options: USB write protect tool and command line write protect tool (free)
• Body Case options: 7
• Body color options: 22
• Custom Branding: Yes, print 1 side, 2 side, laser etch
• Price range: $5 – $35

Here are a few real-world examples of USB security risks:

• Marketing team at a pharmaceutical company loaded confidential product launch materials onto flash drives for a trade show. One of the drives was later found to be infected with malware after being used in a shared hotel lobby kiosk. That malware made its way into the company network via an unprotected USB port.
• Municipal government office had several writeable USB drives used for transferring documents between departments. One employee unknowingly picked up a drive from their desk, which had been tampered with by a visitor, and later discovered unauthorized PDF files had been added to the storage device—posing a data integrity issue.
• School district IT team distributed policy documents on USB sticks to staff. When a staff member used one on a public computer, it picked up a trojan virus. Because the drive was not write-protected, the infected drive was later plugged into the school’s internal system, leading to a network-wide quarantine event and a full day of downtime.

In all these examples could have used a USB flash drive malware protection scheme. A USB write-protected device would have neutralized the risk; either by blocking incoming threats or ensuring no files could be added without authorization.

USB Write Protection Review:

USB write protect switch by Netac. Physical toggle switch on side of case. Video review

USB write protect tool by Nexcopy. The default state of the USB is read-only. Only when the correct password is entered for the write function does the USB become writable. Simply pulling the USB out of the port sets the device back to read only. Video Review.

Take away:

Both products perform the overall goal of the USB device being write protected at the controller level. However, the physical switch and the requirement to remove the device between a read-only and read-write state is not as elegant as one would hope. In addition, the ability for _anyone_ to toggle the switch between the read only and writable state does not provide that much security for anyone outside your trusted circle.

If the Netac USB is holding data you do not want changed or manipulated the physical switch doesn’t provide much security past those people you trust not to flip the switch.

The Lock License drive provides a much higher level of security and user options related to the write protect feature. The password feature makes this a unique solution and can be unique for each flash drive used.

The fact you can add/remove files without having to disconnect the drive between read-only and writable states is very convenient. Probably less convenient to disconnect and reconnect a drive as in the Netac product than one extra step of entering a password to make the Lock License drive writable.

Nexcopy also provides a portable app for the USB. The portable app is a small utility you can data load onto the drive and that write protect tool can be used to unlock the drive without the need of installing the Drive Wizard software. By definition, a portable app (application) is the ability for a program to run without it having to be installed on the operating system. A second video was added to show this feature.

What we learned (summary):

The big take-away from this product review is every drive should be write protected at the controller level by default. USB is a bigger security concern these days than previous years. The number one way to prevent malware from spreading is blocking the ability for that virus to jump onto a flash drive. If the USB media is read only, it’s impossible for a virus to spread.

Both the Netac and Nexcopy products address the read-only state and help secures the device from malware. However, one drive has a clear and present danger to security protocols and that’s because the write-protected USB drive can be toggled off by anyone. No password, no security check, just a manual slide switch.

Although a portable app is required to unlock the Lock License drive, we feel this less of an inconvenience that the Netac product which requires the user to disconnect and reconnect the drive.

From a branding perspective the Lock License drive is a clear winner with the 7 body styles, many body colors and ability to custom brand product artwork, logos or text.

Summary Comparison Chart

USB Write Protect Switch vs. USB Write Protect Controller