Several weeks ago I blogged about several brands of USB flash drives which were all breached in the same way. The rumor mill has it that all of these drives were OEM’d from SanDisk, whose drives have been subject to other hacks in the past.
SanDisk and Verbatim maintain that a software update is sufficient to render their devices once again secure, but Kingston announced in December that “the best way to address this problem is to offer our customers replacement units that incorporate newer and stronger security architecture,” said John Holland, vice president, U.S. sales.
On January 27, Kingston announced the replacement drive. “The DataTraveler 5000 delivers unsurpassed levels of security and encryption to government and enterprise customers,” said Mark Akoubian, business manager, Secure USB Products, Kingston. “This portable data solution represents state-of-the-art data protection while providing end users with the simplicity of plug and play.”
The DataTraveler 5000 utilizes patented Secured by SPYRUS™ technology. According to SPYRUS, their Hydra PC was the first and is still the only USB flash device to pass both NSA verification for classified use and be FIPS 140-2 Level 3 validated. It’s just a guess, but if the NSA verifies a device for classified uses, it’s probably done a bit’o’homework and the device is pretty darn secure.
In fact, I worked with SPYRUS while I was at a previous company and was pretty impressed with what they were doing. So impressed that when I was offered the opportunity to join them on the same day that the RSA 2010 security conference opens, I accepted.
At RSA we will be demonstrating the HYDRA PC™ Secure Pocket Drive, which runs Microsoft Windows Embedded. This Windows-on-a-stick reboots and takes control of your PC and uses the mouse, keyboard, display, and RAM to create a hack-proof computing environment. Come by the Kingston or OATH booths (351 and 2023 respectively) to see it in action.
Seacliff Partners International, LLC is not going away by any means, but if I can convince SPYRUS to start a blog, I’ll be doing a lot more over there. Until then, see you back here soon.
