Linux Solutions

Ask yourself this: How many times have you lost, or misplaced your keys? I’ve done it more times than I care to remember, and I’m sure you have too. The problem, if you are one of the many people who need to have data on them all the time, was solved by the invention of thumb-sized portable storage USB memory sticks. I’m looking at my car keys right now, and my 2GB memory stick is sitting there attached to it, but until this point I’ve never considered the impact of losing my keys – and the data stored in it.

You’ve all heard the horror stories of people leaving hard copies of military files on trains – MoD I’m looking at you… but how can you ensure your precious data is secure? Well there are a new breed of flash drives that are more secure than Fort Knox that involving password encryption and keypad combinations that need to be entered before you can gain access.

Take IronKey for example. At $149 (£85) this is one of the most secure flash drives on the market. With a built in Firefox browser, large storage space and industrial strength password protection, the 4GB model offers an all round solid option.

Set up is easy enough. You create a username and password the first time you use it, and subsequently every time you connect it to your computer you will be asked for the password again to allow access to the storage space. You can make a backup of the IronKey’s contents on your computer as well. You need to be hella careful however, because part of the security of the device is a ten password tries to get into the device – fail to insert the correct password and the unit automatically deletes everything stored on it…don’t forget it!

IronKey works well with Linux, as well as Windows XP and Mac OS.

TrueCrypt is free open source software that promises to turn any flash drive you have in to one that will conceal your data. The software creates and then hides a password-protected partition on the drive. Then TrueCrypt asks you to choose between creating a file container on a portion of the flash drive or encrypting the entire drive.

If someone happens to find your drive, they will only be allowed access if they install TrueCrypt and know the password, otherwise the data remains cloaked. The system seems flawless.

The best advice I can give is to just be careful you don’t lose your flash drive. If you don’t need to carry it around – and believe me when I say this – no-one thinks it makes you look cool, intelligent or otherwise. If you really must carry your data then either invest in a solid and secure drive, or hit up the open source software option.