The IronKey is a flash drive brand developed in the early 2000s by IronKey, an Internet security and privacy company partially funded by Homeland Security and later acquired by Kingston. These were meant to furnish extra security for its target clientele — government, military, and business. Though they work pretty much admire any other flash drive, their hardware encryption makes the IronKey unique (and quite expensive).
Though software encryption is easy and safe enough for most of your files, it is not comprehensive nor as strong as hardware encryption, which employs a cryptoprocessor built into the device. In the case of the IronKey, the flash drive employs 256-bit AES hardware-based encryption in XTS mode and FIPS 140-2 Level 3 validation with on-device Cryptochip Encryption Key management. The flash drive detects physical tampering and automatically protects your data once you eliminate the drive. For added security, you can use a complex password or a passphrase of up to 255 characters long to access the files, and if you stumble to furnish the correct password ten times, the drive locks down automatically and optionally destroys the files.
So, do you need one? That depends on your use. Spending $77 for an 8GB flash drive may be excessive if you only store school assignments or photos. However, if you have confidential business documents or state secrets, it might be worth paying a little extra to ensure you aren’t on the receiving end of a security leak.
