This has got to be a gadget that’s waaaay on top of my gadget must-haves for 2008.  Sure I have USB drives that is security-tough, I’ve installed so many protection “things” that I’m sure it couldn’t be invaded or hacked by any soul.  But hey, there’s always that one time when it can be hacked into right?

The Iron Key just does all the protection out-of-the-box with a HUGE PLUS.  This thumb drives hold up to 4 Gigabytes of data, but includes a hardware encryption chip that scrambles the data so as to be completely unreadable without a password.

It’s super protected to the point that if it detects any malicious intent on its data IT WILL SELF-DESTRUCT!  Talk about protection, eh? 

Sure… passwords can be hacked, but not the IronKey. It’s built to withstand attacks both virtual and physical. 10 incorrect password attempts, and the encryption chip self-destructs, making the contents of the flash drive totally unreadable. The contents of the drive are filled with epoxy, so if a hacker tries to physically access the chips, he’d more likely damage them instead. Even if he did get access to the memory chips, they’d be worthless without the encryption chip. Electron-shielded, even a scanning electron microscope can’t get inside.

I’ve been storing several personal and extremely personal stuff on my Sandisk Cruzers and PY thumb drives all these years that I sometimes am very wary of someone picking it up and hacking it to get to my files.  The Iron Key seems a great solution, at least for me.

The Iron Key USB sports the following features:

- Fast 30MBPS Read, 20MBPS Write
- Drive contents encrypted with AES CBC-Mode Encryption
- Onboard IronKey Password-manager keeps all your internet passwords safe
 -Secure version of Firefox included that encrypts all your web-surfing traffic
- Encased in a potted metal case, not plastic, one of the strongest USB keys around
- Exceeds MIL-STD-810F military waterproofing standards
- The encryption chip self-destructs if an invasive attack is detected
- If your Ironkey is lost, you can restore from a secure backup to a new Ironkey in minutes
- Dual channel SLC NAND Flash for high-quality and read/write speeds
- Windows XP and Windows Vista only, but Mac and Linux drivers are in development

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