The architecture of the device allows it to maintain three simultaneously bidirectional paths between the processor and the mass storage, the mass storage and USB, and the processor and USB.
#Activate usb secure Pc
Similar to the North Bridge and South Bridge architectures in the PC world, West Bridge was introduced to allow evolution of embedded processors, independent from having to keeping up to speed with the changing memory and peripheral interfaces.Įffectively, a West Bridge device is a three-way bridge which offloads the processor from data intensive operations such as USB and memory management.Ī West Bridge has three ports: one for connecting to the processor, one for connecting to the mass storage (two mass storage devices) and the third for connecting to USB for an external interface. The data retrieval also follows the same path in which the memory controller reads from the mass storage and passes the data onto the AES engine which decrypts the data and pushes it out to the USB controller. In the schematic above, the USB controller receives data from the PC/laptop’s USB port and passes it onto the AES engine which subsequently passes the data onto the mass storage in the encrypted format. Current architecture of USB encrypted device. Shown in Figure 1 below is a generic block diagram of such encryption enabled devices available today look like the following:įigure 1. However, the hardware encryption method is deemed to be more fool-proof since it does not allow a direct access to the encryption keys and the quality of encryption is not determined by the strength of the user password.
#Activate usb secure software
Evidently, the hardware based methodology is a more secure option.Ī point worth noting is that both the software and the hardware encryption methodologies require a user password.
#Activate usb secure password
The encryption key is unlocked by the user password and is used by the AES engine for encrypting the data. On the other hand, hardware based random number generators could be used to generate number patterns which would be fed to the AES engine to generate encryption keys.
Creating and remembering a difficult-to-guess password can make the device user-unfriendly. As is with software encryption, user-passwords are fed into the AES engine to generate the encryption keys, which makes the strength of the encryption directly dependant on the strength of the password.Īlso, ideally a 128-bit AES would require the password to be of 16 characters (8 bits/character) and similarly, the 256-bit AES would require a 32-character password. However, just deploying the AES algorithm does not suffice as the manner in which it is executed is equally important. This aspect makes hardware encryption potentially more foolproof than the software encryption alternative.īoth software and hardware encryption methodologies use the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) 128-bit or 256-bit (As of now, neither the 128-bit nor the 256-bit algorithms have been reportedly compromised). Hardware encryption: The encryption keys do not ever leave the hardware device, thus never exposing them.
Although quite a safe methodology, the presence of the keys on the device memory exposes them to the hackers who know where to look for the keys and their unique format. Encryption keys are stored in the device’s memory and used to encrypt/decrypt the data. The two widely used methods for securing USB flash drives are: In the light of such occurrences, there is a need to make the USB based flash devices more secure and ‘leak proof.’ Data security can be maintained in USB flash drives using encryption/decryption mechanisms to enable reading/writing to the device only by authenticated personnel. The losses are a result of confidential, personal or corporate level data getting leaked and misused. There have been a number of cases ranging from misplaced to stolen or misused flash drives reported which have resulted in losses up to 2.5 Million USD from a single such incident! Of late, one of the major challenges facing individuals as well as corporations using USB flash drives is that of data leakage and theft from these devices. * Ease of use: With the gaining acceptance of USB as a standard interface, these USB-based storage devices are extremely simple to use. * Portability: The physical form factor of these devices are generally quite small and light, making them very convenient for carrying around in one’s pocket (hence the name ‘pen drives!’)
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