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Many may not know this but I have been a police officer for the past 25 years, in addition to running Essentially Tech Media, The SSD Review and Technology X. Many will be very surprised at reading this, most of whom I have known for years but never mentioned such. I have never mixed the two businesses. I understand data security rather well and can tell you that I have been carrying an encrypted flash drive with me for longer than I can remember. The importance of such cannot be stressed hard enough when the loss of information on a USB can be valued at millions of dollars.
For the past four years (almost to the day), I have been carrying with me the Apricorn Aegis Secure Key 3.0 that I am still going to claim is the worlds absolute best ‘all around’ security device. It is the top of the two in the above picture. This flash drive is not only FIPS 140-2 Level 3 validated, has full-disk 256-Bit AES=XTS encryption and contains no software to achieve its data security, but also it has a 480GB capacity and hits USB 3.0 speeds of 180MB/s. Our original report can be found here and z and that drive can still be bought here on Amazon. It has an amazing reputation.
Today, we are going to take a look at Apricorn’s newest release, the Aegis Secure Key 3NXC; the bottom device shown in the picture above. This flash drive is available in capacities of 4,8,16,32,64 and 128GB and it is a USB 3,2 device with a Type-C connector. Let’s face it, USB Type-C is the latest in connectivity and everything is moving in that direction.
The 3NXC is FIPS 140-2 Level 3 pending, has ‘on-the-fly’ AES-XTS 256-bit 100% hardware based encryption, has a software-free setup and can be used in any system because access to this devices storage is opened or closed through the keypad on its face. In other words, when you plug it in it is simply an open USB key. You lock and unlock it through the physical keypad and there is absolutely no software involved.
The Apricorn Aegis Secure Key 3NXC is constructed of a solid aluminum casing with a rubber cover and is completely tamper proof as it contains its own internal rechargeable battery. It is protected from physical tampering with a layer of hardened epoxy and locked-down firmware. You are not breaking into the 3NXC.
The Apricorn Aegis 3NXC is ideal for personal use or business, as it has complete administrator capabilities where both admin and user modes are configured. The administrator can deploy each device with ‘user forced enrollment’ where the user must establish his or her own personal PIN before access can be gained. The administrator can also create data recovery PIN’s for times when passwords are forgotten or lost.
The 3NXC is IP68 approved which means that it can withstand dust, dirt and sand and can be submerged into 1.5m of water for up to 30 minutes. It has a Brute-Force Crypto-Erase feature that can be programmed to completely erase the drive after 4-20 failed password attempts. After the specified number of failed attempts have occurred, the device deletes its own encryption key and destroys the ability to decrypt its data. It also has a self-destruct PIN that erases all data and leaves the 3NXC in factory new condition. In both scenarios, nobody can compromise or recover that data ever.
The Apricorn Aegis 3NXC is available at Amazon and pricing is set at $59 (4GB), $69 (8GB), $89 (16GB), $109 (32GB), $139 (64GB) and $179 (128GB). Turn to the next page for performance results.