this post was submitted on 19 Feb 2024
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It seems like the benefits are having the device lock/wipe itself after a set amount of attempts in case of a brute force attack and not having to run software to decrypt the drive on the device you plug it into.

I included a picture of the IronKey Keypad 200 but that's just because it's the first result that came up when I was looking for an example. There seem to be a few other manufacturers and models out there and they probably have different features.

I am curious what do you think of them? Do you think they are useful? Do you find it more a novelty?


It was an ExplainingComputers video titled Very Useful Small Computing Things that made me think of them.

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[–] SheeEttin@programming.dev 5 points 8 months ago (7 children)

Overkill and overpriced. If you're on Windows, bitlocker is enough. If you're on Linux, LUKS is enough.

I've used Apricorn drives at previous jobs. They're cool and very much fit for purpose, but I'd have a hard time justifying the significant price premium when software is nearly as good, free, and works with any drive.

[–] CorrodedCranium@leminal.space 3 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

That seems to be the consensus. Would be significantly overkill and more of a neat novelty for a local backup of my taxes that's just going to sit on my desk.

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[–] jet@hackertalks.com 5 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (2 children)

They are interesting. But they are a huge red flag and scream examine me if it's in your luggage and your crossing a boarder.

I'm somewhat dubious about a hardware system not having long term undiscovered flaws. Be sure to use software based data protection on top of the hardware solution.

[–] possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip 3 points 8 months ago

Depending one where you are this may may be seen as normal in many airports as this isn't uncommon in a business setting

[–] CorrodedCranium@leminal.space 2 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

But they are a huge red flag and scream examine me if it’s in your luggage and your crossing a boarder.

Good point. I guess you'd need to look into key disclosure laws at that point if they were in your threat model

[–] leraje@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 8 months ago

I have one as a 'last resort' option. It's got backups of BitWarden, Aegis and Standard Notes and is only connected to my machine during backups.

[–] INHALE_VEGETABLES@aussie.zone 3 points 8 months ago (2 children)

I'll store my weird shit on an unsecured hard drive stashed in the woods. Like those that came before me, and those before me.

[–] THE_MASTERMIND@feddit.ch 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

You meant and those before them right ?

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[–] Deceptichum@kbin.social 3 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

Couldn't the data be cloned and cracked off device without having to worry about the pin code?

[–] ctr1@fl0w.cc 3 points 8 months ago

I have this device and use it to store my keepassxc and onlykey backups, and it's useful to me because I've stopped using passwords (I only need to remember the pins for these devices which can unlock my keepass dbs that have everything else).

It seems secure enough for my use case, especially since the files I store in it are themselves encrypted (the onlykey backup still requires a pin), but I still want them to be difficult to access.

I've had to rely on it before but only because I didn't prepare a backup onlykey ahead of time- ideally it should be one of many recovery methods. But so far it's worked great for me.

[–] PowerCrazy@lemmy.ml 3 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (2 children)

I have a USB drive with a keypad on it, it stores my FIPS Compliant SSH-key for IL-5 government systems. I unlock it to add my key into my ssh-agent, and don't use it for anything else. Though it is an 8gig USB stick, so I could in theory run some kind of security/pen testing flavor of linux plus a VPN Client to connect to said systems.

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[–] HelixDab2@lemm.ee 3 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Seems like it's a good starting point.

I wonder if you can encrypt the files prior to storing them on the key, which would then encrypt them a second time with a different method. Would the compromise the data in any meaningful way? Or would it mean that you had to decrypt the key and then decrypt the data a second time?

[–] CorrodedCranium@leminal.space 2 points 8 months ago (3 children)

I believe you would have to decrypt them a second time. For example if you wanted to be real secure you could have the USB device, an encrypted folder that holds important documents and files you want to back up, and inside of that could be a password database that requires a Yubikey or similar device.

I believe what you are talking about is kind of like using a combination of cascading algorithms like AES->Twofish–>Serpent.

I could be wrong though. If I am I hope someone can correct me.

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[–] montar@lemmy.ml 2 points 8 months ago

I see one use-case, If you're going w/ sth illegal as hell to a place where you might get arrested and searched for just being there i.e a protest, nuking your (illegal) data might save your ass.

[–] inclementimmigrant@lemmy.world 2 points 8 months ago

I use them in my job and I find them better than the software only solution and I like them when I have to use them for sensitive file transfers.

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