Original URL: http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/09/05/review_ironkey/
IronKey 1GB secure USB Flash drive
Cast-iron data security?
5th September 2007 11:40 GMT
Review What do you give the data security nut who has everything? IronKey may have the answer: what it claims is an almost totally secure, steely USB Flash drive that doesn't simply encrypt the data kept on it but protects your applications and online activities.
IronKey's IronKey: data vault
So no more worrying your missus might find and try that cheap Flash drive you back-up your pr0n on, then? Perhaps, but IronKey - the company - has more serious uses in mind for its dinky metal-clad product.
Out of the box, the IronKey isn't particularly distinguishable from a host of Flash drives, for all its brushed aluminium looks. But this boy's tough shell is more than skin deep. The company claims the drive is waterproof to US military standard 810F, which, if fully implemented, means it's able to withstand high and low pressures; extreme temperatures; rain, ice, dust and sand; and even gunfire vibration.
Puddles, then, are no problem, but you may not necessarily want to take it diving. Whatever, IronKey also claims its drive is solid and tamperproof too. We tried, without success, but we'd not like to state categorically that it's impervious to a determined data-thief with the right tools.
In addition to 1GB, 2GB or 4GB of on-board storage, the IronKey has its own cryptography chip that uses the very-difficult-to-crack AES, RSA-2048 and SHA-256 encryption algorithms not only to protected the data stored on the device itself but also to scramble the data the drive sends back and forth over the host PC's USB connection should anyone be snooping it.
It's worth stressing this point. The IronKey has hardware encryption, while almost all other secure Flash drives out there use software encryption. So crypto operations take place on the drive, not in memory, where they could, potentially, be tapped. Passwords are not stored in the drive's file system, but in a separate part of the hardware. The encryption keys are not held in the Flash memory.
Fitted for the first time, the IronKey appears as a read-only partition containing the access software, and as the data-store partition. Windows prompts you to install the IronKey software, then asks for a nickname for the Flash drive and the password you'll use to protect the data.
IronKey Control Panel: initialisation
There's a handy password quality meter, but since it goes from red to green after the entry of just four characters, it doesn't exactly encourage you to come up with something tricky to guess. Next, click the Initialize button and the drive generates its security keys, formats the data space and finally mounts for use.
IronKey's pitch is that its product isn't simply for data storage, and there's a special, secure copy of Firefox on board that can be launched from the IronKey Control Panel utility. Browse away, and all the permanent files your surfing session produces - cookies, bookmarks, preference files and so on - are retained only on the drive, in an encrypted form.
The IronKey version of Firefox sits happily alongside the one you've already installed on your PC - or Internet Explorer, for that matter - and the two will co-exist, though you can only run of them at any one time. The secure version includes an IronKey toolbar that in addition to linking to the IronKey website, provides a pop-up listing of bookmarks stored on the drive and a handy button that auto-fills web forms from data you enter the first time you use it.
IronKey Control Panel: in use
The IronKey form-filler also holds the details of a single credit card - again, all kept securely on the drive. A nice touch that will appeal to the truly paranoid: the credit card details don't include a card's three-digit security code. You'll still have to key that in to online forms yourself.
And it works. Click the button and in go the details. IronKey's code will automatically make note of website log-in details and ask you if you want to save them securely. It'll spot log-in forms too, though it's perhaps a little trigger happy - it'll pop up even if you're already logged in and viewing, say, a change-your-password form.
IronKey's IronKey: surf securely and anonyously
All your passwords can be modified in the IronKey Control Panel and backed-up to the company's online archive. It also allows you to back-up the contents of the drive to the host machine - or any archive its connected to by networks or other USB ports. The back-up is visible to all, but attempts to open the files fail. For example, a picture will still appear to Windows as an image file, but of a format the OS doesn't understand.
Back to passwords. The IronKey Control Panel has a password generator capable of churning out quality passwords full of upper- and lower-case characters and numbers. Totally unmemorable to you and me, of course, but easy for the IronKey to remember on our behalf.
IronKey also uses a version of the Electronic Frontier Foundation's Tor anonymity tool for preventing sites you view from working out who you might be.
That hasn't stopped IronKey forcing you to activate your IronKey drive by registering yourself as a user with the company, which is presented as a fait accompli rather than the option it perhaps should be.
Still, if you forget your password, it's good to know you can get it back - enter the wrong one ten times and the drive zaps the Flash memory, not only to protect your data but to stop anyone using the drive afterward. Since the drive's purchase price only includes just "one year of internet protection", you could come a cropper in years to come if you don't keep up the payments.
IronKey's website doesn't say how much it will charge in future, and it really needs to be a lot more up-front about all this before its product can become a compelling consumer purchase. We checked with the company, it is said it will charge $20-50 per year, depending on the level of service you want, including anonyous, encrypted web browsing. However, password back-up and software updates will always be free, it pledged.
You'll see from the screengrabs that IronKey's software is reasonably good looking, though the brushed metal look is beginning to date in the Vista/Mac OS X 10.5 era. Incidentally, the read-only part of the drive does contain Mac OS X software, but we were unable to get the drive to mount on our MacBook Pro. IronKey doesn't state Mac compatibility, and while the company admitted it is working on Mac OS X code - and a Linux version - it won't talk timescales.
Finally, speed. IronKey claims read and write speeds of 15MBps and 29MBps, respectively. We copied across a folder containing 40 10MB files, duplicated the folder on the USB drive, then copied the copy back to the host PC. We recorded data transfer rates of 7.31MBps, 5.34MBps and 21.27MBps, respectively. Copying or duplicating lots of small files always takes more time than one, big one, but is closer to real-world usage.
The read score's what we'd have expected, but the write speeds were rather slower than anticipated. Still, the drive didn't feel sluggish to use.
Verdict
Priced on a par with the likes of SanDisk's rival Cruzer Pro and Cruzer Enterprise - reviewed here (http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/07/04/review_sandisk_cruzer_pro/) - IronKey is pretty good value given the much more sophisticated level of physical and online security it provides. The write speed is a let-down, as is the need to cough up more cash year after year to get all the benefits - we'd have preferred just a higher up-front cost.
Still, if you wand the ultimate in USB and online data security, the IronKey appears to be it.
IronKey 1GB
Slow but sure, the IronKey delivers cast-iron data security and safe surfing...
- Suggested Price:
- $79 (1GB), $109 (2GB), $149 (4GB)
- More info:
- IronKey's website (https://www.ironkey.com/)
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