Content area
Full Text
USB drive line combines encryption and smooth fingerprint authentication in an affordable bundle
If budget constraints prevent you from getting a new laptop with full drive encryption, you can still add a strong protection layer to your data when traveling or when at your desk. Enter Aegis Bio, (Aegis, I am reminded, is the name of Zeus' shield ), a new line of USB drives from Apricorn offering out-of-the-box 128-bit hardware-based AES encryption and biometric authentication with a fingerprint reader.
After using the Aegis Bio for some time, I found the drive to be a fine alternative to having full-drive encryption on your laptop, or a secure backup device if your laptop data is already encrypted. The fingerprint reader, however, had me puzzled at first, and the unit's administrative tools are a bit slim for corporate deployments.
Click for larger view. For my evaluation I received from Apricorn an 80GB Aegis Bio (capacities range from 80GB to 250GB) in its standard commercial packaging, including a CD with the fingerprint management applications and some ancillary software.
The drive has a built-in USB cable that folds neatly in a groove when at rest. In addition to a padded pouch, I also found in the box a Y-cable, one female to two males -- useful if not enough juice flows from just one USB port on your machine.
Measuring about 5 by 3.25 inches and weighing about 6 ounces, the drive may not be something you want to carry in your front shirt pocket; finding a place in your laptop bag shouldn't be a problem, though.
On...