Obligatory XKCD

Stopping low effort attempts to get data it seems good, as an addition too software encryption it seems great. Of course hardware can range from child toys, gimmicks, to serious hardened hardware, so results WILL vary.

They occupy a strange niche full of contradictions.

Entering the code on the device itself should increase security as opposed to entering it on a compromised computer.

But plugging it into a compromised computer means the data is compromised anyway.

Their security is way harder to audit than a software solution like PGP. The actual "encryption" varies from actual decent setups to "entering the code connects the data pins with no actual encryption on the storage chip"

Not having to instal/use software to use them means they are suitable for non-technical users which in turn means more support calls for "I forgot the pin, it wiped itself, can you restore my data"

They are kind of useful to check the "data is transported on encrypted media" box for compliance reasons without having to manage something bigger.

like everyone else has said hardware level encryption doesn’t seem like the most sound option.

Personally i’ve just encrypted sensitive files with picocrypt, only just started looking into better encryption techniques though so there’s probably better alternatives.

Same problems as any firmware based encryption (encrypting SSDs, etc.). Firmware is quickly outdated and the triangle price - speed - security usually neglects the security part.

Yeah i dont see how this would be better then a run of the mill thumb drive (that doesnt scream im worth stealing) and just creating a cryptomator vault on it.

I use them in my job and I find them better than the software only solution and I like them when I have to use them for sensitive file transfers.

Good until you spill a Cuppasoup on it's chinesium keyboard.

I had one of the SanDisk flash drives that had some launcher thing on it and I had a password for some reason on it.

In high school, a classmate tried to guess it, 3 times and I lost everything on it forever, since it stupidly locked forever after 3 tries.

I had software projects from back then that I can never get back.. including a web browser. I could have had the next Firefox..

If you're out there, Liz: I'll never forgive that.

Seems like it's a good starting point.

I wonder if you can encrypt the files prior to storing them on the key, which would then encrypt them a second time with a different method. Would the compromise the data in any meaningful way? Or would it mean that you had to decrypt the key and then decrypt the data a second time?

The IronKey has been cracked

I don't trust hardware implementations of encryption in the same way I don't trust hardware raid arrays.