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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[–] 27 points 2 years ago (2 children)
  • [–] 19 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Like most things, it's important to remember what threats you're trying to protect yourself against.

    Are you trying to protect yourself against dropping a USB in a parking lot and someone picking it up? Or are you trying to protect yourself from a nation state?

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  • [–] 9 points 2 years ago

    Just my opinion but I don't really like the common belief of separating nation and non nation state actors. We're getting to the point where nation states are making up a large portion of the really damaging attacks, and it's frequently ones own government or a government they're in conflict with which means there are very kinetic consequences for failure even if you're a nobody. It's not just someone stealing some money anymore.

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