USB flash drives with encryption

[Jobos]

The HT has gone security mad and wants all the teachers to start using USB flash drives that have password AND encryption to transport their data on. I know there’s been a similar thread on this subject recently but I don’t want to use software encryption as it will be my head on the block if a teacher looses their reports even if it’s through their own stupidity. So I’m after recommendations for USB flash drives that use encryption built in to the device.

[elsiegee40]

This thread may be useful to you http://www.edugeek.net/forums/educational-software/14667-data-encryption-memory-sticks.html

[Jobos]

Thanks for all the recommendations. It all started because our LEA sent round a document about data security and we should be using Imation USB drives to encrypt the data stored on them. The only Imation drive I can find that does encryption is Imation - USB Pivot Plus Flash Drive but our usual supplier Misco doesn’t sell them so that’s why I’m looking for a replacement.

 

I contacted the IT support services at the LEA who were listed in the document but they were unable to help but gave me the name of someone in a different department. So I contacted this other person but they were unable to help either, but they did give me the name of a different department who might be able to help. I’m still waiting to hear from the last department. The words “pen” and “pusher” spring to mind.

[Busybub]

Sandisk Professional, Sandisk Enterprise, and Kingston DataTraveler Secure are the most common ones using 256bit hardware encryption.

 

We've started using the Sandisk Enterprise ones, if only because I managed to find a batch of them which were cheaper than the others.

 

Main differences according to the info I had at the time were that the Professional and DataTraveler ones lock out after 10 incorrect password attempts, after which you have to reformat them. Think you can also choose the protected partition size.

 

The Enterprise one completely locks up after 10 attempts and is effectively useless. You can also buy server side software which lets you send a kill command to the device when it is lost and somebody plugs it into an internet enabled computer.

When you plug it in it creates a virtual CD drive from which it runs the relevent software to unlock it. The rest of the space in the device is secured.

 

If you find you cannot make the device work, it's most likely a registry problem. Sandisk have a list of keys to look at, though when I made all the relevent changes, it still wasn't doing anything so I had to rebuild one of our computers.

 

On practical matters, also looks like the Kingston jobbie is slightly fatter than the Sandisk ones which could cause problems if you have a lot of USB devices plugged in. Not an issue with Sandisk.

 

So far, no complaints about the Enterprise ones, and will get more when I find another cheap source for them.

[Geoff]

Also you need to be aware that sometimes the manufacturer is advertising a certain level of encryption (usually AES) which actually something much worse is used (say DES for example).