SecuX Forte - Encrypted USB Flash Drive - USB 3.2 Gen 1 - XTS-AES Encryption - Password Authentication - Automatic Locking - Silver Metal Casing (64, GB)

They are called "flash drives" for very good reasons: they are intended for ease of use, simplicity and speed. Hence, "flash drives". There is nothing simple about this SecuX Forte Encrypted USB Flash Drive, with XTS-AES Encryption, Password Authentication and Automatic Locking. Requiring a more complex and difficult to hack password, as well as requiring the successful navigation of the password initialization software included on the flash drive, (just be sure to write your password down. Too many failed attempts will erase your data), once this is achieved, your data can then (hopefully) be entered normally.The data is XTS-AES encrypted to ensure its security. Dismounting the drive (or anything that resembles your drive's dismounting, like an unintended computer shutdown) seems to result in the secure invisibility of your added files. In any case, the flash drive itself is strategically mis-identified as a CD-RW or DVD-RW physical disc in Windows File Explorer, effectively hiding it when searching for its identity or even its existence.The drive operates normally in-between security measures. I was able to achieve write speeds of over 100 MB/sec, and read speeds that were substantially higher than that. When transferring a lot of data, the drive will tend to run hot. I definitely felt it after a few hours of use, so be careful when attempting to dismount the drive. And be sure to follow all of the security protocols when you do. My paranoia levels are always sky-high whenever I engage in changing the current state of this flash drive. I'm always worried that with a single error on my part, all of my data will evaporate while somewhere a hacker will be laughing.As a secure flash drive, I think this is a very good one. But calling it a "flash drive" strikes me as the height of irony.

If you want to feel like a spy smuggling data in thumb drives, this is what you're looking for. It has hardware encryption that implements AES XTS block cipher mode, and is supposed to wipe itself after 6 wrong attempts (packaging says "configurable" but I could not find any configuration settings).I doubt if the drive is tamper proof (self destructs when opened physically), and there's no information regarding what chips are used. However, we're not looking at preventing the CIA or NSA from looking at your secrets, but rather to prevent someone who found your drive if it was lost or stolen from getting access to your sensitive information - as long as you don't write the password on the drive with a sharpie.When you plug it in, the drive appears as a DVD-RW drive. In it you will find both the Windows and MacOS binary. Interestingly, there's both a Windows binary in the top level of the device, as well as in the Windows folder. I checked both, the function is identical. It walks you through a setup, then subsequently, it is only used to unlock the drive. You can also use it to lock the drive, but turning off your computer, pulling out the drive, or ejecting the drive will all lock it.Once you unlock the drive, another drive will appear on your computer. Windows report it as a FAT32 formatted 114GB drive (where 1 GB = 1,073,741,824 bytes). It doesn't appear on Disk Manager until it is unlocked as well. I didn't try repartitioning or reformatting the drive.I tested this on two different machines, Windows 10 and Windows 11. Performance is pretty consistent across the two machines. I have the 128GB version of the drive. I tested it with h2testw.Write speed is about 90 MB/s - it takes about 20 minutes to fill all 128GB at this speed. Read speed is about140 MB/s. Both are not phenomenal but pretty respectable for USB flash drives, especially for an encrypted drive.Now I'd like to point out a few things that gave me pause regarding this drive.1. It's dependent on the software that comes with the drive. And since the software only works on Windows and MacOS, you can only use it on those platforms. Linux? Sorry. Want to unlock with command line? Sorry.2. The software is fairly basic, and doesn't have some features I'd like to have, such as lock after X minutes of idle, a more flexible password requirement (it's hard coded to 8 characters or longer, with at least 1 each of lowercase, uppercase, numeric, special characters). It's supposed to allow the user to set the number of incorrect attempts before wiping the data, but that feature is missing.3. The drive gets hot when in use. I measured it at about 120F (almost 50C) when writing data to it. That's not quite hot enough to burn, but enough to give you a shock when you touch it.I really wish the drive comes with Linux software, like the very similar and slightly more expensive Kingston IronKey Vault Privacy 50. If you want a software solution, you can get any generic USB thumb drive and use VeraCrypt. If you don't mind the limitations, this one is more straightforward to use, and as long as you pick a good password, should be secure.

I got this USB flash drive with encryption to test out. It's a snazzy-looking USB 3.2 drive with a 128 GB capacity. It looks like any ordinary thumb drive. One end has a cap, and the other end has a place to put a loop through to attach to something.To use the drive, I recommend going on the SecureXtech website and clicking "How It Works" because I don't remember any instructions included with this. The website explains the process of setting up a password to get into the drive and using a dedicated secure folder to store your files.Overall, this drive can be used as a regular (very expensive) drive, or as a secure drive requiring a password for access.