Are you interested in increasing the security of your data as it travels with you on a USB drive? I’ve highlighted a few devices available on Amazon that add some layer of security or encryption to protect your data while it’s on the go.
Most of them are compatible across Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux platforms but you will have to evaluate your options against your environment and security requirements.
Corsair Padlock 2
Sizes: 8GB, 16GB, 32GB
Speed: USB 2.0
The Corsair Padlock uses a customizable 4-10 digit PIN to lock and unlock the drive. It uses 256-bit hardware AES encryption and has a 10 year warranty. It will automatically lock the device for 2 minutes after 5 failed attempts to login.
Apricorn Aegis
Sizes: 4GB, 8GB, 16GB, 32GB
Speed: USB 2.0
The Apricorn Aegis Secure Key uses a 7-15 digit PIN and FIPS-validated 256-bit hardware encryption to protect your data and requires no software to be installed. This is one of the best reviewed security drives on this list. The key locks immediately upon being unplugged from the computer. The drive will wipe itself if the incorrect key is entered 10 times in a row.
Sizes: 128GB, 256GB, 500GB, 512GB, 1TB, 1.5TB, 3TB
Speed: USB 3.0
The Apricorn Aegis Padlock is available from 128GB to 4 TB drives. Fortunately, with that capacity, they utilize USB 3.0 to speed up the transfer process. The drive is able to be used without any software and similar to the flash drive, destroys the data upon trying to be brute forced.
IronKey
Sizes: 4GB, 8GB, 16GB, 32GB, 64GB, 1TB
Speed: USB 2.0
IronKey might be the best known secure USB company. It uses on-board software to access the 256-bit hardware encrypted data on the drive. That provides extra capability, such as up to 10 accounts, but could be a downside depending on your environment. With durable material and complex password requirements, it protects your data-at-rest.
Kingston Data Traveler
Sizes: 8GB, 16GB, 32GB, 64GB
Speed: USB 3.0
The Kingston Data Traveler is another drive to use a software interface to access the hardware encrypted data. It reformats after 10 invalid login attempts and is compatible with Mac OS X and Windows. While the other drives listed here are compatible with USB 3.0 ports, this drive is one of the few that will transfer data at the faster speed.
Integral Crypto Drive
Sizes: 2GB, 4GB, 8GB, 16GB, 32GB
Speed: USB 2.0
The best reviewed of these devices, the Integral Crypto Drive uses 256-bit FIPS 197 encryption to protect your data. With a 6-16 character password, the drive will wipe its data after 6 failed attempts.
SecurityDR Dataguard
The worst reviewed out of these, as you might imagine with its 3-digit analog combination code, I might just steer clear of this since the storage capacity isn’t even listed. The thought of a USB combination lock is just laughable to me.
Security USB devices
Another means of security through USB devices adds biometrics to your authentication. Your options include this fingerprint reader, if your computer doesn’t have one built-in,…
or, even more accurate, the Myris from eyeLock to access your computer with a retinal scan.
