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REPORT SUMMARY AND FINAL THOUGHTS
Data protection in today’s world should not be taken fort granted. Millions of dollars are paid out daily to intruders who steal information, whether it be personal or business, and extort millions for its return. Once returned, there is no guarantee that there isn’t a copy still floating around somewhere. The criminal would be foolish, and quite frankly a bit naive, not to back up his reward for a job well done which could be worth millions. I have already told you that I have the Apricorn Aegis Secure Key 3 with me daily and have for years. That is a 480GB storage device and the Aegis fortress L3 2TB SSD is the next step up in the chain. Higher capacity, better protection from the elements, the best security available worldwide…and a three year warranty.
This SSD is small enough to throw in a pocket and just as simple as the Secure Key 3; punch in your password followed by the green unlock button and access is open. Click the red lock button or remove it from its power source and it is closed. There is another benefit that we haven’t mentioned and that deals with data protection. If a transfer is in progress when the power goes out, the data waiting to be stored in the buffer will make it to its final destination before the drives stops. As well, the feature set presented as an administrator is untouched anywhere else in the industry. This is why the Aegis Fortress l3 meets FIPS 140-2 Level 3 validation as well as IP certification (pending).
Remembering that every bit of data that is stored or retrieved from the Fortress L3 is encrypted or decrypted, the transfer speeds of 350MB/s read and write are excellent, and surprising considering they are relatively the same for both the USB 3.1 SuperSpeed adapter and Type-C. Checking out Amazon, we can see that our sample 2TB version lists at $798 which may be a bit pricey for some, however, Apricorn sells this very same unit in hard drive capacities from 500GB to 5TB and SSD capacities starting at 512GB so this is available at all price points. The Apricorn Aegis Fortress L3 SSD is very deserving of our Editor’s Choice Award.
Check Amazon Pricing for the Aegis Fortress L3.
One thing it lacks is physical security.
Page 18 of the User Manual says:
Performing a Complete Reset
NOTE: A complete reset will erase encryption keys and PINs and leave the Aegis Fortress
in an unformatted condition.
There may be circumstances (forgotten PIN, redeployment, return to factory default
settings) when you need to completely reset the drive. The complete reset feature will
perform a crypto-erase on the drive, generate a new encryption key, delete all users, and
return all of the settings to factory default.
To perform a complete reset of the drive, perform the following:
1. Press and hold ? + ? + 2 together for several seconds. The RED and BLUE LEDs
will blink alternately.
2. Release all buttons when the GREEN and RED LEDs glow steadily which will
continue for several seconds, followed by the GREEN LED glowing steadily for
several seconds, and then will be followed finally by the GREEN and BLUE LEDs
glowing steadily, indicating that the reset is complete.
3. A new Admin PIN will need to be entered and the drive will need to be reformatted.
So you can steal it, erase it, reset it, and use it as if you had purchased it yourself (minus the Warranty).
we actually talk about this now and then. and yeah that’s true. and it’s true for most other manufacturers who don’t have a device management console or a software component. we thought about it a lot and opted to stick with a non managed system to allow us to lock down the firmware and eliminate update opportunities because that’s a malware vulnerability occurs and also, it’s hackable. the real concern that we focus on is the security of your data on the drive. when the average data breach cost gets up over 3 million in damages and fines, we figure you’d rather be out a few hundred bucks in the loss of the drive itself and get another one.
Thank you for jumping in Apricorn.
Couldn’t the first key entered be the ‘user lock’ for the drive, unneeded until next time a complete reset is performed?
After a complete reset one would have to enter the first key ever used, otherwise it would be a brick.
Another method would be a peel-off sticker unrelated to the serial number which contains the key to use.
Some of the drives are more than a few hundred dollars and while some might steal it thinking it had value those in the know would understand that the only “value” would be to cause concern and deprive the user of the data (which could cost thousands of dollars).
It’s like leaving your vehicle unlocked so the thief doesn’t confront you in the parking lot and take your keys – instead all vehicles have locks (some encrypted) and most people lock their cars, car jackings are infrequent (plus there’s OnStar and LoJack, no suggestion that you add it).
Thanks for answering, all the same.