Kingston shows secure USB stick

The evolution of USB sticks from detested security hazard to data respectability has continued with the announcement of a new product certified to stringent U.S. government levels of security.

Memory giant Kingston has announced the Data Traveler 'Blackbox', which features 256-bit AES hardware-based encryption compliant with the tough FIPS (Federal Information Processing Standard) 140-2 Level 2 standard.

Because the drive comes with hardware-based encryption, all data on the Blackbox is always encrypted, with the conversion to and from plain text being done transparently once the user has logged into the device.

Passwords are mandatory to use the drive, with complexity enforced to stop people using the name of their pet dog.