IronKey 4GB USB Flash Drive

With the rapid adoption of USB flash drives as a convenient and portable way to store and transport data, a large number of users have found the need for a secure and reliable way to protect their USB drive data. It is quite easy to misplace your USB drive or, if you are unlucky, to have it stolen. Without any encryption or other password protection built into the USB drive, your data is left wide open to theft. The folks at IronKey have spent a lot of time and money to address these security and reliability concerns. They have developed the IronKey USB flash drive - what they bill as the world’s most secure USB flash drive. We will take a look at the security features it offers and will see if it really is waterproof – and whether it is worth the $149 price tag.

Design

The IronKey is made of a sleek silver colored metal casing and one of the first things you will notice about it is that it weighs a few ounces more than typical USB flash drives. According to the company, the casing is made of a number of metals – with iron being a key component. Iron is one of the heavy metals that provides an incredibly rugged and durable exterior of this drive.

On the back of the IronKey is a small section designed for you to engrave your name or your initials into the casing. This isn’t necessary for the drive to function, and I did not feel it was necessary to personalize the drive by carving my initials into the back of it. At the end of the drive is a small LED light that indicates when the drive is in use. The LED light flashes orange when the drive is activated but has not been authenticated, and green light flashes indicate that the drive has been authenticated and is in use.

Features

• Military Grade Encryption with a built in Crypto chip that protects your data using the same encryption algorithm as many governmental agencies
• High-speed dual channel SLC NAND Flash memory which is 4-8 times faster and lasts 10 times longer than the MLC Flash memory found in the majority of flash drives
• A "Self Destruct Sequence" where if any physical tampering by a thief or hacker is detecting it will literally self destruct
• Online Security Vault, were if your IronKey is ever lost or stolen, you can easily restore your online passwords from an encrypted online backup
• Stealth Browsing to surf the Web safely and privately through almost any network, even across unsecured wireless hot spots
• Self-Learning Password Management to securely store and backup all your online passwords as you go, and automatically log into your online accounts to avoid key logging spyware and phishing attacks
• Waterproof and tamper proof specifically designed to survive the extremes and exceed military specifications for water resistance
  

Installation

The first step in the installation process is to initialize the IronKey. This involves assigning a name (default is ‘IronKey’) and creating a password. The password is used to access the IronKey whenever you connect it to a PC or laptop computer. Without the password, you will be unable to access the IronKey. No part of the IronKey is accessible without first entering the password.

The next step involves the IronKey generating AES encryption keys. The IronKey uses hardware based encryption for the keys. Hardware encryption is faster, more secure and typically easier to use versus software based encryption. It also has the added benefit of not requiring a driver to be installed on your system. This process of generating the encryption keys takes about 2 minutes to complete.

The next step requires you to activate the IronKey by creating an online IronKey account. You are taken to the secure online IronKey site where you complete your information and create an account. An email is sent to the email address you specify, and then the final step is to take the code included in the email and complete the setup process at my.ironkey.com.

The entire installation setup process took about 10 minutes from start to finish, which is longer than most other USB drive installations, but it is only needed one time and this is extra effort required to insure the level of security that is provided by the IronKey.

Rather than go through all of the details about how the drive achieves the highest level of security, I would direct you to the FAQ section on the IronKey site so that you can see just how much thought has been put into making this device as secure as possible: https://learn.ironkey.com/faqs