Password protecting thumb drives

[Casual_Shooter]

Hi all,

I have a few different thumb drives I use for rotating back-ups (among other things).

I would like to protect them from prying eyes in the event I misplace them. Understanding nothing is foolproof, does anyone have recommendations for password protecting them?

I'm on a Mac if that matters.

Thanks.

[armygunsmith]

use Truecrypt. The application exists on the drive and the encrypted file can be made to appear as any type of file.

[Casual_Shooter]

use Truecrypt. The application exists on the drive and the encrypted file can be made to appear as any type of file.

Excellent. Reading up on it now.

Thanks!

[JDay]

Get an IronKey. It is the worlds most secure thumb drive. You can also use it on other peoples computers to surf the web securely.

https://www.ironkey.com/

[winnre]

Get an IronKey. It is the worlds most secure thumb drive. You can also use it on other peoples computers to surf the web securely.

https://www.ironkey.com/

THIS!

[SkyStorm82]

Those Ironkeys are expensive! They look pretty hardcore though.

[bigwhitetruck]

I use a SanDisk Micro U3 Cruzer that is password protected.

[odysseus]

Get an IronKey. It is the worlds most secure thumb drive. You can also use it on other peoples computers to surf the web securely.

https://www.ironkey.com/

Seems as though they are proprietary and only use AES-256 crypto (which is fine - I am not knocking AES). Not sure on how they hash it either. Costs money, looks overpriced.

Truecrypt is open source tested, free, and comes with multiple methods of encryption, including AES-256, and allows for multiple different encryptions methods to be applied at the same time. You can use this on any of your existing mem sticks and hard drives.

[JDay]

Seems as though they are proprietary and only use AES-256 crypto (which is fine - I am not knocking AES). Not sure on how they hash it either. Costs money, looks overpriced.

Truecrypt is open source tested, free, and comes with multiple methods of encryption, including AES-256, and allows for multiple different encryptions methods to be applied at the same time. You can use this on any of your existing mem sticks and hard drives.

The Ironkey is worth the price and it is quite secure (its been DoD audited and no vulnerability has been found). AES-256 is used to secure data classified Top Secret. You'll also notice that they are FIPS certified. These drives a very nice in a corporate environment, if a user forgets their password you can recover it with the master key. They are also constructed in such a way that causes physical attacks to destroy the cryptochip, rendering the data useless.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Information_Processing_Standard

Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) are publicly announced standards developed by the United States federal government for use by all non-military government agencies and by government contractors. Many FIPS standards are modified versions of standards used in the wider community (ANSI, IEEE, ISO, etc.).

https://www.ironkey.com/rugged-design

An IronKey drive is an investment that will last for years. Ruggedized and waterproof to military specifications, its metal casing protects internal components against physical damage, shock, the elements, and tampering. The casing is filled with an epoxy-based potting compound to seal all components against moisture and tampering. This combination also prevents the drive from being crushed, even under extremely high pressure. The result is a virtually unbreakable digital strongbox for storing your most private information, passwords, and files.

Sealed and Tamper-ResistantElectromagnetically Shielded

In addition to the epoxy potting compound, IronKey devices are protected by thin-film metal shielding around the onboard memory. This electromagnetic shielding provides another layer of defense against tampering by protecting against invasive attacks such as electronic scanning of the memory contents.

Waterproof