IronKey USB key has military grade encryption

posted Jun 26th 2008 10:30pm by Juan Aguilar
filed under: firefox hacks, news

Plenty of USB storage keys are on the market, but Ironkey is the first to use military level encryption. Sold in 1GB, 2GB, and 4GB sizes, the key features a processor called the Cryptochip, which uses Public Key Cryptography ciphers linked to an online account to create encryption keys on the hardware. A Federal Information Processing standard 140-2 compliant true random number generator on the Cryptochip ensure that encryption keys are extremely secure and totally random.

Ironkeys come in different sizes, but there are also three different versions, each with unique features. The basic version has a very James Bond-esque feature to destroy the data on it in case of an emergency. The personal version is loaded with Firefox 3 with various addons that make browsing encrypted and anonymous. The enterprise version is made to order with no specific price on the IronKey site, just a form to order one built to your specifications. All of them support Windows, OS X, and a large amount of Linux distros, and they all come in tamper proof and water resistant cases with a brushed metal finish. We tend to think this level of security is overkill for the average person, but people can’t seem to get with our freewheeling approach to security; remember, we leave our WLAN open.

[via LinuxDevices]

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Comments [27]

tagged: encryption, FIPS, firefox3, ironkey, linux, security, usb

Reader Comments

who cares, this is not why the majority of your readers (or at least what I hope to be) come to this site. i know comments like these are getting old but seriously, this is extremely far from a hack and doesn’t belong here… engadget, gizmodo, etc already stream all of this crap. this site used to be unique, now every third post is some pitch for a p.o.s. commercial product.

Posted at 11:21 pm on Jun 26th, 2008 by beesknees

if you don’t like it then gtfo!

Posted at 11:32 pm on Jun 26th, 2008 by g$

I think it’s funny how juan aguilar always uses the royal “we” :)

Posted at 12:25 am on Jun 27th, 2008 by garrett

Oh. My. God.

hack a day is borderline spam . . . .

Posted at 1:38 am on Jun 27th, 2008 by Aaron

HADvertisements, **sigh**

Posted at 1:45 am on Jun 27th, 2008 by Wolf

Ok, you can post this, but ONCE someone has hacked it, until then, this is spam for me (and i think im not the onlyone).

Greetings from Argentina.

Posted at 1:55 am on Jun 27th, 2008 by DriX

please hackaday say it aint so. dont follow this path it leads to darkness.

Posted at 2:30 am on Jun 27th, 2008 by skunk

What the fuck is this. an ad for them?

had is really going downhill

Posted at 2:30 am on Jun 27th, 2008 by xSwamp

Thanks for selling out, Hack A Day! It almost would have been better under AOL.

Posted at 2:33 am on Jun 27th, 2008 by cmonkey

dear hackaday.
you have made it clear that you will not Liston to us readers any longer.
you are posting utter garbage!
Juan Aguilar you have solely destroyed this site.
i think i speak for the majority when i ask you kindly to Liston to comments or leave.

you have lonst yet another reader

harry

Posted at 3:08 am on Jun 27th, 2008 by no longer a reader

NOT A HACK

Posted at 3:20 am on Jun 27th, 2008 by NOT A HACK

You want a hack? http://spritesmods.com/?art=biostick&page=4 THIS is a hack. There is no such thing as ‘military grade’. That’s nothing more than a marketing term (see http://www.interhack.net/people/cmcurtin/snake-oil-faq.html#SECTION000511000000000000000 for that and more bullshit marketing terms that usually mean the product your buying is bollocks). Paying craploads of money for a shitty product. Why not just use a standard usb key and software? Sure it might not have the ability to ’self destruct’ but at least it will work (and I’d like to see you try cracking a 4012 bit encrypted virtual partition). All of this hardware can by bypassed. Most likely the data isn’t even encrypted (see the earlier link). You want to market something, at least let it be a decent product or something cool and hackable. How about an openmoko (which has just released it’s first ‘consumer ready’ version of the phone – although it’s more like a casual developer model, but hey). Or at least if you post this kind of stuff give me an on hand review about how someone tried to hack it and failed/succeeded. Just don’t shamelessly product place. Gizmodo is posting more relevant content. Come on. The hint is in the title – Hack A Day. Not Ad A Day. A year ago if it didn’t involve wires and chips it wouldn’t be on this site. Just look back a few months in the archives and compare the content then to the content now. If your so eager to post this stuff set up a new site. Just keep it separate from this one.

Posted at 7:22 am on Jun 27th, 2008 by Alex

“….Ironkey is the first to use military level encryption.”

Please…

It’s called download TrueCrypt PORTABLE, which is FREEWARE, and create an encrypted volume.

Posted at 9:12 am on Jun 27th, 2008 by chris

Will, I understand you created this site, and it’s your call. I respect the fact that you’ve chosen the help of Juan.

But that’s where my respect ends.

These sorts of comments are indeed getting old, but perhaps YOU SHOULD ADDRESS THEM. Before Juan starting posting this shit that is basically a DAMN AD, Hackaday was incredible. Now people are bitching for the first time ever. Shouldn’t you adress what Juan is doing when EVERY COMMENT here is Negative, and saying the same thing?

I love your site, and it kicks ass- you are busting your ass to post a lot more goodness lately, even stuff that’s not a straight hack, but relavent. Thank you! We love you for it.

Juan, people here don’t hate you. We just seem to univeraslly hate the ads and like stuff you’ve been posting. Please stop, OK? Not everything you’ve posting has been flamed. Mr. Obrien, can you chat with him or something?

Please stop pitching us ads masked as articles. That is what Engadget & gizmodo is for.

Posted at 9:17 am on Jun 27th, 2008 by Joe

[URL=http://imageshack.usIMGhttp://img507.imageshack.us/img507/9028/selloutst4.jpg/IMG/URL]

Posted at 9:35 am on Jun 27th, 2008 by kvmanii

woops I meant…
and this is strictly an observation…

http://img507.imageshack.us/img507/9028/selloutst4.jpg

Posted at 9:39 am on Jun 27th, 2008 by kvmanii

Yawn, this is getting tired and old.

This was covered by engadget MONTHS AGO so it is not even new like some of the oink articles *shudder* I realise there is this great filtered link that brings up Wills stuff but some of the other content is interesting too so it is hard to filter.

The reason i think there are so many negative coments is because people feel betrayed, we had this great little niche site we could call into like the old corner store but now it is starting to feel like a wal-mart chain with no charm at all.

I would also like to hear just once that our complaints are being heard! Ever since the changes there have been few/no posts on the direction of the site, not even a “bear with us whilst…” letting us know what is happening.

Posted at 10:35 am on Jun 27th, 2008 by Apothus

bitch bitch. i enjoyed reading it. even though it’s full of phrases like “military level encryption” and “truly random” which are comical at best.

Posted at 2:05 pm on Jun 27th, 2008 by amk

I used to enjoy nearly every post here… There’s not much hack-value in an “advertisement” for a secure flash drive.

I have nothing against anyone, just against turning HAD into another ad riddled blog with little value.

Posted at 3:11 pm on Jun 27th, 2008 by tmasman

Dude, thinkgeek has had this for sale for about a year now. It’s not a hack, it’s not news…what, are you going to start posting random things you find interesting on here now? Turning into a boingboing clone? If that’s the case…I can’t wait for the story on russian nesting dolls.

Posted at 3:16 pm on Jun 27th, 2008 by Urza

every once in awhile all sites like this post something that readers will treat like a punch the face, just so some readers will come back and post
-”what the fuk you do that for?!”
-”to boost our page view count, to bring more money in, to keep the site running. you’re welcome!”
-”well don’t do it again!”
-”another page view! cha-ching!”
-”stop it!!”
-”you’re too generous! our cup runneth over!”

and so on. if you don’t like it take it off rss and just visit every few days.

Posted at 4:02 pm on Jun 27th, 2008 by RevWaldo

Oh come on people.

Stop complaining.

You have to take the good with the bad.

Posted at 4:36 pm on Jun 27th, 2008 by DigitalMind

has anyone done a disassembly of this?

http://tweakers.net/reviews/683 comes to mind as a similar product.

I don’t remember if i saw anything liek this for this particular product.

Posted at 1:32 am on Jun 28th, 2008 by I c y

Yesterday’s news… So Where the Hack? This is HACK-a-Day not Ad-a-day right? OK OK you are bound to put up a non-hacking article once in a while but… how about linking to articles that would aid or organize an effort to break it… or lump suff like this in to a challenge list of things you need hack/crack info on.

Posted at 11:17 am on Jul 7th, 2009 by JC

i c y: If you watch the video on their website it shows that that case is filled with an epoxy or resin that encases the ICs/board so disassembly would be a real problem without some high level precision work to remove/drill down to the tiny conductors. Hard to do without breaking the pathways but it “could” be done with time and perseverance. They are a bit on the expensive side to try and play with the 8GB version lists for 199 but I have seen it elsewhere for about 160. I am thinking that they are full of it when they claim it “destroys” the chip though. I know those who must not be named have been doing that kind of self destruct trap for a long time but doubt that this does any more than destroy the password/key table thus rendering the data permanently encrypted and irretrievable.

Posted at 11:28 am on Jul 7th, 2009 by JC

ok… one last thought. Instead of bitching (and I do my share of that) how about we pony up and talking about the hacks for a given device or topic ourselves. Without a doubt, Juan may be worthless but that does not mean that we are… right? Or do you guys (myself included) only know how to read about hacks not create and share them? This site and others like it are only as good as we who post to it make it. If the guys running it suck we can still crank up the volume ourselves. Who knows maybe I’ll start using my real name and email address (but probably not).

Posted at 11:36 am on Jul 7th, 2009 by JC

Wow, I have not seen so much bitching since I was on a mailing list that was taken over by trolls.

For everyone that are upset, skip the damn post and grow up.

As far as your TrueCrypt solution, humm lets see your key is in RAM not on a hardware chip.

Go ahead trust sensitive data, the Feds will love to see you coming through customs with your ultra secure TrueCrypt Drives.

This key is a good concept although I would as a few others like to see someone try to hack it success or failure. Maybe we should have a few sent to Princeton or some of the original members of the L0pht.

Posted at 7:30 pm on Oct 21st, 2009 by KRK

IronKey USB key has military grade encryption

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