Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils - Hector Berlioz
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A USB key that locks turns up
EVEN THOUGH every vendor is trying to sell you something, London's Infosecurity conference isn't exactly the place to find the latest hot new toy. So imagine our surprise when we found a device there that is different and original.
It's the LOK-IT Secure Flash drive, a USB key that has a hardware-based security system that requires the user to log in using an on-board PIN pad. It looks like one of those combination luggage locks that you tend to forget the combination to. We asked John Tate, one of its creators at Systematic Development Group, what the point of it was.
He said, "Every other device up to this point rather than a pure biometric device required software. It's pure hardware, so you don't have platform dependence, with susceptibility for passwords to be stolen."
"The big reason a lot of companies are going for it is that you are not running an executable. A lot of companies have policies that you are not supposed to run executables from a remote device."
"Since our authentication is done prior to inserting it into the computer, there's no executables to run."
The drive runs with 256-bit AES hardware encryption and is also platform independent, which means that Windows users can also use it on a different platform, such as Mac or Linux. Another advantage is that you can boot from the Flash drive, as it doesn't require a password entry.
Ten incorrect PIN attempts will wipe the encryption of the key, wipe the PIN, and force a reformat of the drive when you plug it in. Tate said that there are ways you can recover the data.
There are two different models available, one with ten buttons in aluminium and one in ABS plastic with five buttons. They come in 2GB, 4GB, 8GB and 16GB capacities. µ
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Well done Asavin for typing in a press release and pretending it is journalism
I think they are all distributed. The sad thing is that I think most PIN numbers are probably the same as the factory default!
@Um yeah um
SLIGHTLY off topic but, there was a car accident outside a newspaper office in our town. They couldn't be bothered to include a picture on their site either. I think it must be a global warming, energy saving, green peace, ozone layer issue. save the pixels.
Back on topic...
http://www.lok-it.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/LokIT_features.png
@ Steve...
do you have any of the 150 Corsair Padlock USB kicking around? :)
Um yeam um...
Thanks for the pic of this revolutionary new USB device - which as other commenters have mentioned isn't even new or original.
I hadn't heard of the Corsair though - my first reaction was "where's the pic?"
Sure, I can search for it via Google Images, but seeing as you have/had one in your possession, and likely have a camera on your phone or access to someone else's or a regular digital camera, or the one in your notebook - why didn't you take a picture and include it with this story?
Guess your answer is um... yeah... um...
when it should really be "I'll get a pic up with this story ASAP, yes sir three bags full sir!"
...if you unlock it before you insert it in the port. Unless the lock is mechanical.
Who was it that made a USB stick with a combination-lock wheel... ONE wheel? I assumed you didn't turn it to each of a series of numbers, like a safe in an old James Bond movie - you only had one digit? In which case I assume it was an intentional joke, but IT management can seriously produce dreadful ideas.
The Corsair Flash Padlock didn't have hardware AES Encryption, the Flash Padlock 2 does.
I wonder if it's any more secure than Corsair's product, whose security is relatively easy to bypass.
http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=148427
We bought 150 Corsair Padlock USB sticks for our staff in 2008. Imagine my surprise when I read "...a device there that is different and original."
I take it you've not heard about the Corsair Flash Padlock 2, you know that's been around since early Feb