CDFreaks presents: Corsair 2GB Flash Padlock USB 2.0 Drive




You can read the review here
Please feel free to comment on the review in this thread

The data on the drive is not stored in encrypted format, it is only protected from reading by use of the combination of keys. Supposedly if one wants to get the flash from the drive and read its contents he might be surprised to find it being stored in clear text - i.e. as is.

Corsair pointed out that they are planning next generation of padlock devices to store the data in the encrypted format, but for now it is not and this version of the padlock will not be upgraded in the future to include the encryption feature at all. So it is up to you, whether you wait for the model that will truly encrypt the data or buy the current padlock device, which will only prevent people who do not know your combination to read your data.

One more thing - when the right combination is entered, the drive unlocks itself for about 15 seconds and then locks itself back, if it was not plugged in a computer USB port. Be careful, if you plug it into your computer in unlocked state, anyone could unplug it from your computer and then plug it to another computer and read all your data in a flash, since it is kept unencrypted and drive does not react to unplugging and does not lock itself at the same moment, since 15 seconds did not pass.

These two security flaws make this drive much less secure, than Corsair advertised.

Be warned :X

Yeah, of course you could use the software encryption software like Dekart (www.dekart.com) or others like Dmailer (www.dmailer.com) or there are lot of free like Truecrypt etc. programs, that can be installed portably on the flash drive itself and encrypt the data using Advanced Encryption Standard 128/192/256 bits (AES) to truly encrypt your data in a container file on the same Padlock device, so that your data is protected from prying eyes.

This device is great as well for the automatic logon programs (for example Dekart Logon) software, since it can store your key file (already encrypted) on the padlock and plugging the locked Padlock device into your computer USB port without entering the right key on the Pad will not trigger the logon mechanism by itself.

Hope this helps you to evaluate whether you need this product or not before you actually go and buy it. :g

Thanks for the comments severus, you have good information

p.s. Welcome to CDfreaks