Kingston’s New IronKey Encrypted Drive Sports USB-C

If you’re looking for secure local removable storage and you’d prefer something that works with the sleek USB-C ports on your laptop, then the new IronKey from Kingston is just what you’re looking for.

Announced at CES 2023, Kingston’s refresh of its long-running line of IronKey encrypted flash drives modernizes the lineup. Now sporting a USB-C connector, the new IronKey offering also includes the features you’d expect from their hardened Vault Privacy 50 Series drives.

In addition to the updated connector, the drive is FIPS 197 certified with XTS-AES 256-bit encryption. The hardware is designed to prevent brute force attacks and BadUSB attacks (hardware-based attacks that exploit vulnerabilities in USB firmware).

The drive also supports features you would expect from a password management tool and not from an encrypted flash drive like multi-password support, one-time recovery, complex passphrases, and a built-in virtual keyboard to protect against keyloggers.

Not everyone is in the market for an encrypted removable drive, but if you are, it’s tough to go wrong with the IronKey line. If the USB-C connection is a must, you’ll have to wait until later in 2023 for the updated IronKey. If you can’t wait and don’t mind sticking with USB-A, you can pick up an IronKey at major retailers now.