KINGSTON 16GB USB-C IronKey Vault 50C

IronKey Vault Privacy 50 series

USB flash drive with FIPS 197 certification and 256-bit XTS-AES encryption for data protection

The Kingston IronKey Vault Privacy 50 series is a premium USB flash drive, Type-A and Type-C1, that provides business-grade security with FIPS 197-certified 256-bit AES hardware encryption in XTS mode and includes protection against BadUSB with digitally signed firmware and brute force password cracking attacks. Because it is an encrypted record under the physical control of the user, the VP50 series has the advantage of using the internet and cloud services to protect data.

The Vault Privacy 50 supports the option of multiple passwords (administrator, user and one-time recovery) in compound password or passphrase mode. This increases the chances of regaining access to data if one of the passwords is forgotten. The traditional compound password mode allows a password of 616 characters to be entered using 3 of the 4 character types. The new password expression mode allows the user to enter a PIN number, a sentence, a list of words or even song lyrics between 10 and 64 characters. The administrator can activate a user and one-time recovery password or reset the user password to restore access. To make entering a password easier, the eye symbol can be activated so that the password becomes visible, reducing the risk of typos resulting in failed login attempts. When ten incorrect passwords are entered in a row, the brute force protection feature locks out user or one-time recovery passwords, and performs a cryptographic disk wipe if an incorrect administrator password is entered ten times in a row.

To protect against malware infection when running on untrusted systems, the administrator and user can set a read-only mode to write-protect the drive, and a built-in virtual keyboard protects passwords from keylogger or screenlogger software.

The memory is FIPS 197 certified and TAA (Trade Agreements Act) compliant, and organisations can take advantage of Kingston's personalisation programme to personalise and configure the VP50 series memory, using a product identifier (PID) to integrate with standard endpoint management software to meet corporate IT and cyber security requirements.

Small and medium-sized businesses can use the administrator role to manage drives locally, such as configuring or resetting user passwords or one-time recovery passwords for employees, regaining access to data on locked drives, and complying with laws and regulations in the event of an investigation.