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Kingston's Data Traveler 2000 USB store, comes with its own keypad
You can't store everything on the Cloud. Professionals who need to travel frequently on work, still need to carry a certain amount of sensitive data in the most convenient way today -- on a USB stick or dongle. But what happens when the stick is lost? This can be a nightmare, if your stick contained company-proprietary information or files. Most USB data sticks have basic password protection but a good hacker will not be challenged.
Kingston has the solution—the secure edition of its Data Traveler portable storage products: DT 2000. The drive which is about the size of a thick forefinger comes with its own numeric keypad. You can use the pad to enter your own PIN -- up to 8 numerals or letters -- and it will lock the drive with AES 256-bit encryption.
Once you pull the stick out of your PC or laptop, the PIN is activated. If someone not authorised, tries to second-guess the PIN, the device will be locked after 10 attempts and the data will be wiped clean. Reminds me of the self destructive messages that Tom Cruise receives at the beginning of every Mission Impossible movie!
When you buy a new DT 2000, it comes with a default PIN: 11223344. To set your new PIN, it is better to go to the website: www.kingston/dt2000 where you will find an explanatory video. The stick has three coloured LED lights and your PIN entry or PIN change is confirmed by a combination of these colours. It took me about 5 minutes, the first time.
The device doesn't need any other software for installation and works with current desktop and portable device operating systems. The DT 2000 comes in three capacities, 16 GB, 32 GB and 64 GB and they cost respectively Rs 10,000, 14,000 and 18,000. These might seem stiff prices to pay for fairly small storage capacities by today's standards. But I'm guessing Kingston has aimed these high-security USB sticks at those for whom their data itself is priceless.