This easy-to-use encrypted flash drive will make you feel like James Bond

Losing hardware is a pain, but everything is replaceable.  

Allowing data to fall into someone else’s hands is the ultimate headache. Once your data is out there in the wild, it’s game over.

The “solution” is to encrypt your data. But the problem with that solution is that unless the encryption is easy and foolproof, users are going to sacrifice data security for convenience.

If you want easy-to-use high security encryption, then you need hardware that’s aimed at professionals, and that hardware doesn’t get much better than the Apricorn Aegis Secure Key 3.0.

Also: This unusual ransomware attack targets home PCs, so beware

Apricorn Aegis Secure Key 3.0 tech specs:

• No software – so there’s nothing to keylog or to hack.
• OS agnostic – the device is completely cross platform compatible.
• Onboard keypad – all authentication takes place within the device itself.
• All data, passwords and encryption keys are 256-bit encrypted at rest.
• No host computer is involved in setup, authentication or encryption.
• Forced enrollment – no default PINs ensures that data is not put at risk by employees who fail to change a factory set PIN before deployment.
• IP68 rated against water and dust damage.
• Separate administrator and user access.
• Read-only options that can be enforced by the administrator or set by the user if allowed by policy.
• Highly configurable with policy such as time out values, data recovery PINs, and programmable PIN lengths.
• Brute force PIN attack protection.
• Extruded aluminum enclosure with protective sleeve.
• FIPS 140-2 Level 3 validated.
• Can be automatically configured remotely using Apricorn’s Aegis Configurator tool.
• Up to 195MB/s read speed/162MB/s write speed.
• Super Speed USB 3.2 (backwards compatible with USB 3.0, 2.0 and 1.1)
• Capacities ranging from 30GB to 2TB.

Looking like an oversized USB flash drive, the Aegis Secure Key 3.0 packs a lot of high-tech into the tough aluminum shell. 

The first thing that immediately stands out is the built-in keypad that’s used to enter the passcode, which eliminates the risk of your passcode being compromised by a keylogger.

When I started using Aegis encrypted flash drives with the built-in keypad I expected the polymer-coated buttons to be the weak link, but they are exceedingly wear-resistant and do not seem to wear out over time to reveal the most commonly used buttons. I have similar drives that have been in regular usage for several years and the keypads still look like new.

It’s not just the keypad that’s tough. The flash drive is encased in aluminum (which also acts as a heatsink to keep the drive cool when in use), and there’s even an extruded aluminum protective sleeve that protects the keypad and connector.

The drive is IP68 rated against water and dust damage, making it a really rugged storage drive that’s just as much at home in the wilderness as it is in an air-conditioned office.

In use, the simplicity of the Aegis Secure Key 3.0 really shines. Once you’ve set up a passcode, you can unlock and lock the drive in a matter of seconds with a few taps on the keypad.

You can unlock it easily. But the bad guys can’t.

The drive features built-in brute-force decrypt defense to wipe the drive if someone tries to guess the passcode, and it has a built-in unattended auto-lock feature that secures the drive in the event you walk away from it or become distracted.

For an added level of security, there’s also the ability to set a self-destruct PIN to quickly wipe the drive of its contents yet make it seem like it is fully working.

How James Bond is that?

All internal components are physically protected from tampering with hardened epoxy, and the firmware is locked down, making it immune to malware attacks such as BadUSB.

The Aegis Secure Key 3.0 is totally cross-platform compatible and OS agnostic. Whether you use Windows, Linux, Mac, Android, or Chrome, this encrypted storage drive will work as long as there’s a powered USB port and storage file system available. All the encryption and decryption and control of the drive happens on the drive.

On the performance side, the drive is capable of  read and write speeds up to 195MB/s and 162MB/s, respectively. I’ve tested this and found the real-world figures to be close to these published specs.

The Apricorn Aegis Secure Key 3.0 also comes in a broad range of capacities, ranging from 30GB to 2TB, with prices ranging from $129 to $999.